Unfinished business
by angel of angels of angels
Summary: It takes place a few months after underworld, the past has a way to creep up on lara even those of prague and paris and now lara and kurtis must stop what they escaped from and save the world again. Just to be clear, alistair DIDNT die!
1. Chapter 1

a few months after underworld. History has a way to creep up on Lara even those of Prague.

She was falling to the ground, barely staying on her feet while pushing herself forward in order to escape the mental and physical pain she was in. At that moment she was struggling to determined whether the cocky American she learnt to trust throughout her journey was a trick by Karel or reality. He felt so real, his touch, the warmth he gave when unarming her and being so close. The hallway she followed, hoping it be an exit, led her to the arena kurtis stayed behind when the mutant of a former alchemist was trying to make lunch from them. In the middle of the round floor above the pool she emerged from when she had the fifth and final obscura painting which she obtained from the vault of trophies. Lara stood worried by the amount of red liquid which she thought to be human blood, with the metallic disc laying in the middle. If that was indeed kurtis's blood then he might have been real, even though debating in her mind about whether he was real or not she was almost certain of it, either way she was going to find out. When Lara picked up the disc it activated and five sharp blades shot out, pulling her and almost ripping off her arm toward the dark hallway that the mutant emerged from. The scenery suddenly changed to a room with a door in the middle of the east wall, in the northern corned was a small wooden table with a torture equipment on. The walls were brown which further added to the darkness and the shadows hiding two male figures. In the middle of the room was a table and a chair on which a figure of a well built man with strands of hair hanging almost in his eyes tied to. He looked somewhat familiar to someone from her past and also hiding in the shadows was a figure of a man shed rather forget. Yet those icy blue and demonic eyes never left her mind. Once Lara escaped the trance she was in, the conversation became more clearly as she focused on what was happening in front of her.

"just tell me where it is and ill let you live mister Trent" a deep voice came from the other male figure

"there's no way in hell ill tell you" Lara still wasn't sure but when kurtis lifted his face a few inches to look at Karel she was sure.

"Then maybe I can get it out of the girl you're so fond of" as the nephilim said it he changed form into Lara croft but yet the chocolate brown eyes weren't there, just the icy blue demonic eyes of Karel.

"don't you dare touch her, ill rip your head off do you hear me" it looked as if kurtis had gone through weeks of torture, his face full of bruises and cuts then again Lara couldn't imagine what injuries were hiding underneath his shirt. Karel started a taunting laugh when Lara was woken by the call of her name.

"miss croft! miss croft I've brought you your breakfast. Are you all right, you look troubled?" Winston was repeating from next to the bed

"yes Winston ill be fine but would you be so kind to take it to the dining room I think it will do me some good to eat there for a change"

"as you wish, and remember no raiding for a while, you need a break lady croft"

Lara just smiled at the last comment yet she wasn't really listening but thinking about the sudden dreams relating to events that took place seven years ago. Pushing all worries aside Lara threw her legs over the side of the bed and made her way slowly toward the closet. She grabbed a jean, black tank top and some combat shoes. Firstly she put it on the bed and turned on the bath tap. A sudden shock hit her while she was standing looking out on the grounds from the balcony, the bath water was still running. She jogged swiftly toward the bathroom and closed the tap as well as opening the cold water, the cold steel making contact with her hand gave her shivers. When the bath was full enough Lara undressed herself and went in feet first, while gently sitting down she slipped and almost fell but she grabbed hold of the wall next to her and luckily stayed upright. As she laid in the warm water she could feel her muscles relax but unfortunately that wasn't going to stay that way. She completely forgot about the nightmare she had, or so she kept telling herself. The one thing bothering her all this time was that she didn't know exactly what happened to kurtis, either he died or he lived but with that amount of blood she saw it was impossible. It took Lara an hour to escape the building herself and if he had a fatal injury like she suspected it she would've said it was impossible but then again he was a mystery on his own, the last surviving of an order long forgotten. She searched for weeks in all the hospitals in Prague in between dealing with the police and reassuring Winston shed be home soon. The afternoon she finally reached the manor with nothing more than an id, licence, passport and a small suitcase containing clothes she bought in Prague. She felt something strange for kurtis, something she didn't understand and as an archaeologist she always searched for the truth. But her feeling for the man made it complicated, she swore that she was going to forget him, Prague and all the gruesome secrets it held. Karel was dead, Eckhardt was dead and even though she was partly furious with von croy it saddened her in some way. She was broken from her thoughts when a sudden, loud sound came echoing through the halls. She was out of the bath in seconds and grabbed her pistols lying on the side table and started running downstairs. When she had expected a visit from a few death threats it was only the threat of zip and Alistair killing each other that worried her. They were going on about a twelve century vase that fell in a struggle when Lara intervened.

"boys, boys can you please be careful that pot wasn't cheap and zip please return Alistair's book that you've so kindly tucked into your pants."

"bloody hell where's the disinfectants" Alistair said while holding the book with only two fingers like a teenage girl holding a locust.

"yes hallo Lara I slept well thanks for asking" zip was saying while leaning an elbow on top of the display case that the pot originally stood in

"of course zip did you re-" Lara was interrupted in mid-sentence by the ringing of the phone and zip was kind enough to answer, while he was in conversation with who ever disturbed her peaceful morning Lara started walking in the direction of the dining room. As promised Winston had already put her breakfast there with a cup of tee. She sat down comfortable in the chair slightly leaning forward to start eating breakfast. After a piece of toast Lara grabbed the cup with tea but regretted it when the cold liquid made contact with her mouth. She didn't even notice that it was already twelve o'clock. Quietly sitting back in her chair deciding that she wasn't hungry anymore, zip appeared in the doorway. He looked worried, either from the phone call, or he feared of what he was going to tell Lara.

"come on zip spit it out, its not as if you're going to stand there forever" Lara said while pushing the chair back with her feet and standing in front of zip

"that was the police" zip looked anxious but still he wasn't telling her anything

"oh bloody hell what I do this time, steal the Eiffel tower?" her voice full of sarcasm

"close enough, they called about the time you went to Paris. . . . they mentioned the monstrum and a guy named kurtis. They're coming by tomorrow morning seven o'clock" he could see Lara's face drop immediately.

"thanks zip" she was short of words from what she just heard.

"Lara you never told us what happened"

"Werner died, I was the suspect" Lara didn't even bother to look zip in the eye. Obviously he wasn't going to get more out of her so he returned to his usual routine, going to the tech room and playing with his toys. Alistair wasn't like zip he usually got Lara to open up but she didn't feel like it so she immediately went to the gym to get back to her old self. She was already halfway through the course, standing ready for a running jump to the horizontal pole in front of her she was counting to three. 'one, two, kurtis' she saw a sudden picture of the attractive American she met in Paris, for some reason she started running but unfortunately didn't grab the pole and fell hard to the floor. With a sudden thud a voice spoke from behind.

"who's kurtis?"

"Alistair? Oh no one just an old friend"

"fine ive heard enough don't overflow me with information" Alistair lifted his hands in sarcastic surrender

Lara stood up walking past Alistair toward her bedroom, she was already in the gym for five hours and the recent fall wasn't too good for her either. She turned on the shower and got in, after finally cooling off from the gym session she got out, dried of and got dressed. It was already fifteen minutes past five in the afternoon, Lara was exhausted and tomorrow was going to be even worse, hopefully her nightmares didn't mean anything. She was deep in thought about the moment kurtis and she shared in the louvre when everything went dark. Once more she was in the same room as previous. Kurtis was still sitting in the chair, and Karel was once again circling him in the form of a man Lara had never seen before. Kurtis's head hung low, he was different, he was worried, angry. He had no shirt on this time and in the other corner stood a man with a whip, he had a ski mask on and he looked familiar somehow.

"come on kurtis look at your father and tell me where it is" then it hit Lara, what Karel had said, that was kurtis's father

"my fathers dead"

"oh I do remember his face all too well, he was pleading for his life while he was killed, slowly. . . . and painfully"

"yeah now you expect me to tell you everything right"

"well if not for your father what about Lara" Karel's voice wasn't the same anymore, it was different almost like kurtis's

"she has nothing to do with this war just leave her out of it"

"oh but she does and you know it all too well"

the merc in the corner stepped forward and hit kurtis over the torso at least five times, he hissed from the pain but said nothing. Lara sat straight up in her bed covered in sweat, 'not again, its not real just a dream get over it Lara its not like you to dwell in the past' she was talking to herself trying to reassure her that nothing bad was going to happen. Lara got up put some new clothes on and walked toward the closet, in a drawer she hasn't used in over six years lay the familiar disc that previously belonged to kurtis. It was already full of dust since somehow Lara forced herself to forget it being there. When she touched the metal it was cold as ice In her hand, was that a bad thing? She picked it up and blew off most of the dust. She sat on the bed using a wet cloth to clean it off properly. The metal shone in the light originating from the lamp next to the bed. 'what the hell am I doing, what's happening to me kurtis' Lara slowly whispered to the disc, she never did that but she felt a sudden urge to do it. The disc suddenly sprang to life and almost chopped off Lara's head while cutting furniture, flowers and curtains in the process. Moments later zip was standing in the door with a rifle, Alistair behind him with a book and Lara ducking for dear life. The disc suddenly charged for zip, he tried firing but the disc seemed to absorb all the bullets. Zip ducked in time, pulling Alistair with him in the process so instead of slicing their throats the disc simply stuck in the door.

"god Lara you could've told us to beware of the homicidal UFO in your room"

"like ally said I had quite a nice dream" zip used his thumb to point to Alistair now standing upright

"sorry guys that hasn't happened for a very long time but speaking of time how late is it"

"its seven thirty and what is that" Lara smiled evilly and put her fingers in the finger holes of the disc, the blades retracted which made Lara step back a few inches, she smiled at zip and put the disc in the drawer it had previously been in.

"no need to worry why don't you put your skills to use and make me some toast and tea" zip didn't even have time to say no when Lara walked past him and Alistair and out to the hall. She went to the hall but avoiding zip at the same time so that he had no other choice but to make her the breakfast she asked for. He was just about to give it to Lara when the doorbell rang, no doubt it was the police. Zip sighed, turned around and went back to the kitchen while Winston opened the door. Alistair wouldn't be anywhere but the study and zip went back to the tech room. Two men walked over to her and the first held his hand out to Lara.

* * *

**No need to worry, kurtis will be back soon. . .This is my first fanfic about them so please take it easy and try not to bite my head of okay ;-) **


	2. A call for help

"agent Johnson pleased to meet you miss croft and this is agent Carmichael" she politely shook agent Carmichaels hand as well. Agent Johnson had green eyes with short dark hair and looked quite handsome, agent Carmichael on the other hand had light brown hair with brown eyes but was much shorter than his partner.

"i'm sorry but a visit from the police never pleases me"

"of course but perhaps we could talk in private" Johnson was the only agent speaking and Carmichael took notes

"how about we sit outside it is indeed such lovely weather" Lara led the way to the patio and the two men followed and soon took a seat at the outdoor table

"so if you don't mind I would like to get this over with" Lara said while the men admired her home

"of course what we want to ask you is about the monstrum" Lara didn't pay much attention when the agent tried to pull her out of her trance "seven years ago"

"oh that, well everything's in the police report and as you said it was seven years ago why the sudden interest"

"well miss croft about a month ago there was a murder here in London that resembled those of Prague in many ways."

"and you came to see me. . . . . .why?" Lara leaned slightly forward in her chair while resting her elbows on the table

"yes your name was cleared and we know Eckhardt is dead but we believe he had an accomplice, your file was listed under top priority as well as a man named kurtis Limoux, would you by any chance know the man" he seemed as if he believed all Lara said but also hesitated a bit

"I know the name but do you perhaps have a photo with you" Carmichael pulled a pile from his pocket and showed it to Lara. She immediately recognised the piercing blue eyes and strands of dark brown hair almost covering his eyes but he looked younger. But Lara soon shook her head and returned her attention to her unwanted guests.

"yes we met in a coffee shop in Paris"

"you cant perhaps give us the name of the place, oh and have you seen him since then"

"it was seven years ago I can hardly remember where it was and no I haven't we parted ways when I returned home" Lara said trying to make her story believable, its not like she can tell them he has super powers, she fought an alchemist and a hybrid off spring of humans and angels, there was no way in hell they would believe her

"that will be very helpful thank you but we do have one last question for you, did you know a woman by the name of Mary Vasiley?"

"no sorry ,I cant help you there, sorry I haven't offered you some tea but If you don't mind I got appointments later today" she stood up and shook both men's hands while gesturing toward the door, then the hall and the front door. Lara went to take a seat in between zip and Alistair. She started talking to zip since he had a lot of encounters with the police, which also ended him up in jail while she was in Prague. He hacked into the FBI systems and had 'fun' as he called it

"so what you think?" Lara rested her boots on the table and sat far back in the chair

"it never goes that fast with questions either they're fake or just a morons"

"id go with fake check every database you can find for someone with the surname Carmichael, but before you do that check for someone under the name kurtis Trent or possibly montsegur"

"Alistair can you please call Eddie and arrange for a flight to Prague"

"of course Lara why don't you go on vacation while the police, wait! What exactly did you talk about"

"like I said I want to go to Prague" Lara stood up from her chair and started walking toward the swimming pool. She suddenly felt a strange but hurtful feeling over her whole body and passed out before the door. Zip and Alistair rushed to her side, they knelt beside her and zip picked her up. They laid her gently on the bed, walking out and closing the door behind them, they were both extremely worried. This had been the firt time ever that they had seen that happen. Winston was unfortunately out running errands while lara was suppose to take it easy. Alistair just shook his head and retired to the study while zip on the other hand went straigh to buiness. He hacked into the police systems and typed in the name kurtis trent, nothing came up. He then typed in kurtis montsegur and quite a few criminal charges, police reports and unpaid speed tickets. 'whoah now ive seen everything'.

_Car theft_

_Armed robbery_

_Murder _

_Fifty speed tickets all from $750 _

_Assault on an officer _

_Posetion of stolen money_

_Connected with mafia crime boss_

_Kidnapping_

_Stalking_

_False identities_

_Fraud_

_Exc._

Zip read on about everything that kurtis had done previously but no information on him was available except his age (26 and that was two years before Prague so he was about 35 now) last medical report for three bullet wounds and that was it now all zip had to do is tell Lara. It had been hours before Lara opened her eyes and quickly closing them from the light coming from the bed lamp, Winston had already cleaned up and put new curtain and fresh flowers in her room. She wanted to stand up but her mind willed her to keep laying from the hard knock she got when she fell. She had only passed out three times in her life, the day she arrived at a local hotel when she hiked from the crash site to Kathmandu. The second time was when she began to do gymnastics and she misjudged the distance from the platform to a horizontal pole. She missed it and fell hard to the floor. She passed out for almost sixteen minutes. The third time was now when she passed out for what seemed to be hours. When she was about to open the door she felt a migraine but it was different than usual. She heard kurtis's voice calling her name over and over in her head, it got louder and louder. She couldn't handle it any more and fell to the ground. She was sick of thinking, she needed something to keep her busy so she ignored the pain and sat straight up in her bed, soon after standing up and starting to walk downstairs. She could feel her body ache with every step she took. When she reached the main hall zip was sitting at his computer and Alistair just brought out a beer and a cup of tea.

"so who's having the hangover tomorrow?"

"Lara you gave us a fright back there" Alistair had just put down the tray on the table

"I thought you'd be used to it already" Lara just sat down on an armchair not far from Alistair

"well climbing without gear is different from passing out" zip peacefully leaned back and took a long sip from the beer

"I know but this will all stop as soon as I go to Prague I promise"

"if you say so" Alistair adjusted his glasses while putting down the porcelain cup with tea

zip sat typing away on the computer when he suddenly spit out the beer in his mouth, he was quick to grab a cloth and wash off the screen when Winston entered the room. "that's disgusting zip" Lara said while standing back a bit. "you remember that guy kurtis well he may be-"

he didn't have time to talk when Lara turned the screen toward her, elbowing zip as she did. Kurtis was on the ground. He sat on his knees and his hands were bound together by rope. He looked horrible, a nasty gash on his forehead, a few bruises and a nasty burn on his arm. He was thin and looked weak, he also had a few cuts all over his body but Lara could see he still had something in him, something she saw in the beginning. The mentally strong warrior still had that will to live. A small note was on his chest. "zoom in on that zip" as zip followed her instructions she could see more clearly what it said_ good luck to you mss croft. Karel._ She should've listened to the dreams but even if she did she had no idea where to find Karel.

"who's Karel?" zip asked, without Lara noticing she had salty tears building up in her eyes but whiped them away instantly.

"he's someone id rather forget. I want an immediate flight to Prague and zip make the usual arrangements"

"why are you so eager to find that guy kurtis?" Alistair seemed genuinely confused

"because he saved my life, I owe him" Lara didn't bother looking back but went straight to her room. She was probably going to fly tomorrow so she needed a shower and a good nights sleep and not to mention the headache she had. When she was done showering she stood in front of the basin with her hands resting on the edge and her eyes focused on her soaked form covered in a silk gown. She was thinking that maybe this was her fault, maybe he could've been safe if she just, 'cut it out Lara he's nothing to you just an ally'. She shook herself out of her thoughts and exited the bathroom. Zip was standing there looking at the books on her coffee table when Lara came to stand next to him.

"there's a thing called knocking"

"oh damnit Lara don't sneak up on people like that but anyway are you sure you want to go after this guy. He has more criminal records than you have"

"I know but I have to do this so get me a flight from Eddie for tomorrow morning. . . . . ."

"in that case good luck" Lara nodded to zip and he turned to leave. Before he left he turned once more and smiled to Lara, he then walked out and closed the door behind him. Lara didn't know why this man meant so much to her but she had to find him and save him. She put on some comfortable pajamas and climbed in under the sheets. Se wasn't cold tonight but the image she saw earlier made her cold inside. She didn't actually want to sleep, as unbelievable it sounds she was scared to have another dream like the ones before but she also knew if she didn't sleep she wasn't going to be able to make it through the next day. She closed her eyes and fell asleep almost instantly. Once more kurtis was tied to a chair with Karel circling him. He had a dagger with him, it had different markings on the golden blade. The handle was silver, it was quite beautiful but what had Lara more interested was that the dagger resembled the markings on Excalibur. Kurtis looked more tired than previous dreams, his head was hanging low. Karel was once more talking to him but this time Lara could not hear anything nor could she get closer. Karel slowly played with the blade in his hand while Lara could see kurtis lift his head and he had a little of a fearful look on his face. Karel pushed the blade through kurtis's stomach, he slightly fell forward from the shock. When the blade was extracted there wasn't even a single drop of blood, nothing but kurtis was in a great deal of pain, that Lara could see clearly. Karel took off the glove on his right hand and lifted kurtis's face by pulling his hair. His hair grew longer since she last saw him. Karel held the knife to his throat and whispered something in his ear before he left without doing anything. 'damnit kurtis where are you?' Lara yelled to her former partner and for a second she could've sworn he looked at her. When she wanted to yell at him again she was pulled out of her dream by the irritating sound that her alarm clock provided. If she wasn't so tired shed have shot the alarm into oblivion. She pushed all aside and went straight to the cupboard to put some new clothes on. When she was fully dressed for the time she had in front of her. She never had any desire to return to the city she so dreadfully hated for all those years. She had no idea what she was looking for since the police would probably already have found everything. Something in her subconscious told her that she had to go to the place that started it all so that she could understand exactly where it was going. Something was going on beyond her power, she was always in control but she knew only the heading of a story as old as biblical times. She knew deep down that if she went to Prague she was getting into the very thing she escaped from, something bigger than anything she's done before. She had to be prepared, mentally and physical. She wore a blue jean with a long sleeved blue shirt and a thick short sleeved white coat. She took a deep breath and picked up the suitcase Winston had packed for her earlier the previous day. She walked downstairs where zip was busy on the computer, even though he loved technology he acquired some fighting skills while in jail as well as from Lara. Alistair on the other hand she got to know when she had to go show one of her many finds to the university. Alistair didn't go to the university, he just attended the talk. Like a pesky journalist he followed her and asked some questions, after asking her some of her own questions she realized he had quite the knowledge of history so she let him take an interview, soon after she hired him. At first zip and Alistair didn't even talk but later on they had no choice when Lara locked them in the tech room until they started to become friends, yet they still fight like two high school boys. She finally reached the last stair and put down her suitcase beside the pillar she walked to Winston who was standing beside the fireplace.

"goodbye Winston please take care that the house doesn't get burnt down and please they are to know nothing about what happened until I tell them" Lara kindly looked down to the man who raised her ever since her mother disappeared. Even though Lara saw her mother only months back in the form of a lifeless thrall she wasn't prepared to believe it.

"of course lady croft I shall leave it to you to tell them."

Lara then turned and entered the tech room where she leaned against the table next to zip, Eddie was picking her up at the airport with a private jet, from there her would take her to Prague and she only had twenty minutes left to get there.

"zip i'm leaving now, tell Alistair I said goodbye" Lara waved her hand a goodbye before starting to walk away.

"yeah sure the headsets in your suitcase's front so don't forget it" she nodded in confirmation and finally exited through the front doors of the manor


	3. back to the start

The jet was waiting on a open area on the croft estate, Lara could probably keep three there but on the other hand Lara wasn't very fond of flying after the accident with her mother. Every time slight turbulence would start Lara would hold onto the seat, hard enough so that she could probably snap it in half. Eddie was already in the pilot chair when Lara climbed inside. She sat there looking out the window, thinking why she was doing all this for a man she only knew for a few hours. Perhaps it was because he was like her, mentally and physically. He was battle scarred, just like Lara he lost a lot of people he cared about, he shut himself from others. She had thought of him a lot of times after he disappeared but she forced it all away and after everything that has happened to her in the past seven years, she wasn't going to give up easily. She was going to find him and save him, then she was going to kill Karel once and for all if it wasn't some trick her mind decided to play, but if it was real she would go to hell and back to rid the world of such an evil namely Karel. After the jet landed in Prague she decided to go straight to a hotel. It was late, dark and cold. Lara's boots were covered in snow when she climbed onto the first step of the hotel closest to the strahov. Inside the walls were painted a dark brown with a thin white stripe at the top. The lobby was well furnished with accessories such as abstract paintings hanging from the walls and a pot plant here and there. There were a few seats placed neatly across the room with a small diner not too far from the front desk. Public restrooms were also in the lobby. There weren't a lot of people in the lobby that time of night, a couple was sitting in the corner of the diner looking out of the window and admiring the thick white layers of snow gathering outside. One by one the snow flocks were falling like raindrops in slow motion. Busy booking a room was an old married couple, they both wore golden rings and was busy showing the receptionist a photo. Then there were a few people scattered over the floor and making conversation. When the receptionist handed the couple they're room key she called for Lara "excuse me miss can I help you" Lara was immediately snapped out of her concentration and faced the receptionist after putting her bags on the ground.

"oh uhm id like a single room" Lara wasn't really listening, she was tired of the long flight and wanted a good nights rest before the following day.

"of course, you'll be having room 145, enjoy your stay" she said while taking Lara's credit card. Lara excepted the room key and started climbing the white tiled stairs to the second floor with her black bag hanging over her shoulder. Fortunately she remembered this hotel, it was the only one where people actually spoke and understood English. She was standing in front of the wooden door when she got out the keys and fiddled with the door till it opened. She threw the bag on the bed and got out all the necessary equipment. Unfortunately her current room didn't have a balcony. She got out her weapons and set them in the drawer of the desk that occupied the area in front of a big window with beige curtains folded to both sides. There was a sofa with a TV, an old one compared to the stuff zip brought into the manor. A bathroom with a bath tub and shower were also there, the towels the hotel provided were all white as usual. She put the earpiece on the side table next to the double bed in her room. She was still trying to gather the strength she needed mentally to go through what seemed like the darkest time in her life seven years ago. It seemed like minutes that passed since the unending sands of Egypt to the cold and dark streets of Prague. After Lara got dressed in her black pajamas she climbed in under the silk bedding of the surprisingly comfortable bed. She wasn't scared but she was uncomfortable with closing her eyes and drifting off. The city she was in held more secrets than she knew of. She was thinking of the moment she and kurtis shared in the louvre galleries. She was still tired from the past week and before she knew it her eye lids were becoming overly heavy. They started to close, Lara shook her head quite a few times but nothing happened to stall the tiredness that now set in almost completely. She was once again standing in the same room as before where kurtis sat in the chair with Karel surrounding him. Karel was once again changed into Lara. Kurtis looked worse than ever before, he looked scared, frustrated to be completely honest he looked absolutely petrified. She wanted to help him but the real Lara was absolutely useless toward what was happening. Karel was holding his hand out in Lara's form so that his hands looked almost completely flat. He was doing something to kurtis that wasn't physical but mentally it was killing him. How could one person be so ruthless and have no conscience, Karel had no emotion. The warrior named kurtis screamed screams of immense agony, he was shaking violently in the chair. Warm tears slit down Lara's cheek, suddenly she was laying on a soaking wet pillow. Whether the dreams were real or not it had Lara worried, she wasn't going to have these dreams repeating themselves, she couldn't wait any longer. Lara sprang out of bed almost immediately and got into her a pair of black cargo pants which squeezed her hips tightly. She had on her usual black combat boots. She wore a long sleeved black shirt with a brown, thick jacket over. She was warm enough for the weather. It was only early morning, still dark outside when Lara had her weapons in an extra bag she brought since she couldn't walk around a hotel looking like a suicide bomber. She walked casually outside the doors of the hotel. The cool winter breeze hit her face, making her slightly regret not dressing warmer. As her face her fingertips were freezing, she only had the warmth of her fingerless gloves to keep her hands warm. She was standing about a hundred metres watching the building as she was getting her gear and weapons ready. It was dark and her face was hidden by shadows but it was also hidden from shadows, shadows long forgotten. A man came to stand next to Lara, she couldn't see his face properly, she held her gun close to his chest.

"who are you?" she asked as demanding as ever

"you're the chosen one, the one to fight beside the warrior. I've heard so many-"he was cut off by Lara in mid sentence

"I don't have time for fairytales, either you return from where you came or Ill make you go away permanently" he stood forward pressing his own body against the barrel of her 9mm

"he asked me about our black angel when before he switched on power. He needs you, you go in there your destiny starts you will have no going back" he said it with so much truth but Lara never believed in fait or destiny.

"I control my own destiny now leave" the man gave a shrieking sound, such as no human can do. He ran in the opposite direction of Lara. She reached into the bag for her headset after she'd put the gun back in its holster. Zip didn't really need a room since he mostly fell asleep on the chair he claimed was his and his only. He never took off the earpiece if Lara went out so that if she needed him she would not have any problems contacting him. She pushed the button to activate the headset and a double beep told her that her headset was indeed on. "zip, zip are you there?" she could hear things fall on the other side.

"damnit Lara its three in the morning" zip was still yawning, he called for Alistair to come closer as well as Winston.

"hello Lara how's it going there?" Alistair immediately jumped in

"no time to talk its time for business, zip have you got visual?"

"yeah got it, so what got a new hobby of death wishes before breakfast?" zip was extremely good with technology and extremely good in making delicious food that he rarely got to taste because of Lara.

"something like that" Lara quietly stepped toward the door she exited from when she followed the disc seven years ago, speaking of which she had brought the disc with her for some reason. She didn't know why but she had a feeling she was going to need it. She ripped the yellow 'do-not-cross' papers of the police and pushed open the huge metallic doors. Zip and Alistair just watched in awe as she walked forward in total darkness, yet her fingertips were brushing her guns every second. Within twenty minutes she had already passed five doors and saw a bit of light in front of her. She started jogging toward it. She was gazing over a familiar arena with a familiar stain of red in the middle and a carcass of the creature once called Boaz. Why was his blood still there, had the police not come here? Why was it so much the same? Something wasn't right! Lara was once again grouching over the now dried blood. She was still getting back a lot of memories. "Lara I doubt anyone could survive when losing so much blood" Lara had heard but she didn't want to listen.

"he's not anyone Alistair" Lara hadn't spent attention to the rest of her companion's comments. She stood up and looked toward her right, half the arena had cave in, but what could've caused this much damage? She wouldn't make that ledge without the help of kurtis but she saw a way. There was a pole sticking out of the wall, she threw her grappling hook toward it. She could feel it was unstable but she had no other choice. He quickly ran up the wall before the pole broke out. She was high enough to reach the platform, she did a wall run. Just as she reached her peak the pole broke free and she fell hard to the solid floor, she gave a slight laugh in relief. Something shook violently in her backpack. She quickly reached in so that her back wasn't getting sliced in half, she then stood looking at the active disk in her hand. Was it trying to tell her something? She felt weird as if drifting to sleep. She looked over the arena but it was clean without dust, Eckhardt and Karel was standing next to her yet they were like ghosts, pale and almost transparent. Kurtis and Lara were standing at the bottom. "what's happening Lara why are you just standing there" zips voice echoed over the headset.

"are you telling me you cant see that?"

"see what Lara" she wasn't listening anymore but focusing on the happenings before her eyes. She was seeing how kurtis gave her the boost and the quick exchange of words. The ghostly Lara ran past the real Lara. Lara watched anxiously as kurtis fought the two forms of Boaz, she saw as he turned and got impaled by the beast that was still taking in some breaths. He swung around and threw the chirugai back at her, her head was cut off. She still watched as time seemed to fast forward to a moment when kurtis stood up holding his stomach and stumbling he walked out the way Lara would soon come. Time once again fast forwarded to where the form of Karel stepped through throwing a shockwave into the ceiling, that is indeed what had caused this much damage. "Lara are you all right?" Alistair asked snapping Lara out of what seemed to be a dream.

"yes Alistair I'm fine "

Lara could not take the old route, instead she found an elevator shaft into a small passageway, not far from the ledge she had fallen on. She found a crowbar in a toolbox on a table, probably for the guards. After she pried open the doors of the elevator that had sealed shut she grabbed one of the many steel cables. She slid down for what felt like an eternity, suddenly the soles of her combat boots came in contact with solid and icy cold steel. She never felt afraid of the dark, or heights, or even small spaces but this time it was different, it was the second time she had to live through this memory. Even when she found her mother, this was worse. She had lost her mother a long time ago, she got used to the idea but this time she lost Werner. But she could live without Werner, it was the tall blue eyed man she had learned to trust, of whom she was equal to, mentally and physically. She never trusted anyone so easily, usually she watched over her shoulder every two seconds to make sure they wouldn't double cross her. Yet she trusted him in only a few minutes, after he stole her painting and unarmed her, after he locked her in the airlock and after all that she trusted him and believed everything he said. He was different, he was hurt, he didn't trust people, he was a loner and that was what had her so intrigued by him. Once she was on the elevator she dropped in and once again pried the doors open. There were quite a few doors but when she got close to a white, almost cream colour door the chirugai activated and pulled Lara toward the inside. She first checked through the little square windows to make sure she was alone. Once inside she saw the body of what appeared to be human but he or she or whatever it was, was misformed. It had icy demonic eyes and instead of being horrified Lara felt some pity toward it. She walked around it with her fingers constantly touching the top of her guns. She followed the halls, passing a few bodies skeletal bones on the way. Stains of dried blood covered the walls, here and there a smeared handprint. As she continued through the way the chirugai showed her, she was standing in a lab. The chirugai willed her to go through the ducts, before she knew it she was standing in a room with the body of a creature, probably the proto nephilim that the human form of Boaz was so fond of talking about. She suddenly pulled her pistol from its holster and threw it behind her, she had heard a shuffling sound from where she had come from. When she was sure there was nothing she immediately put the gun back in its place.

"what's wrong Lara?" zip's voice broke the deadly silence. "Lara something's wrong im losing you im-" he was cut off.

"zip, Alistair?" Lara asked, after no response in five minutes she tried again "damnit guys answer me"

she had no response. She wanted to check the chirugai again but heard the noise again, once more her gun was pointed in the direction from previously. Lara moved a few inches closer when she felt something behind her. She immediately turned, the same man as before stood before her. He closed his eyes with his arm, the light was obviously hurting him. Lara turned it off with her free hand and raised the other pistol as well.

"no I mean no harm only offer help" he raised his hands in the shape of a cross as if to stop her from firing.

"who are you? Why do you keep following me?"

"I was experiment, he help me recover. He was mad man, I run, run here. This is only home I know. When I saw you with chirugai I knew the day had come!"

"is thats what the disc is called? Who helped you? You better start making sense soon or I swear ill put you to sleep"

"yes lux veritatis weapon, man name was Werner. I think Werner croy it was long ago and memory lost" he paused as if forgetting his words, "I try to help you, prophesy must happen for humans to live" Lara had thought of a scenario where Werner would be alive but the creatures words had no effect on her, just like in Egypt when he was possessed

"what prophesy?" Lara suspiciously watched as he stepped closer.

"no time, need to show you something" Lara hesitated but followed the creature, he led her through quite a few halls until he stopped at a dead end and turned to face Lara.

"when I walk freely in home I discover secret room. Under, look under!" Lara had a feeling that told her not to trust him, her, it but she looked under. 'Under what' she though but then saw a keyhole where the wall met the ground.

"do you have the key?" she asked

"yes, yes, here you take, you see!" Lara took the key from his hand which sent chills down her spine, his hand was icy cold and deadly pale but she didn't look too long though.

She cautiously walked in, checking behind her to see if the creature was still there. It was gone, she didn't like it. Hopefully it wasn't a trap. She stopped before a sudden drop, the way down was by using a ladder but if it would hold was the question. She turned around and slowly but cautiously climbed down. She heard a shuffling sound downstairs. When she pointed a torch in the direction that the sound originated and she could see one of those damn experiments trying to reach her by jumping up and down.

"what the hell" she could hear zip say over the headset,

"they're quite friendly actually" Lara was just above it so she back flipped and whilst in mid air she shot a few bullets into it's skull.

"when they're dead, what happened back there?" Lara corrected herself.

"i don't know, I just lost signal as well as visual. Wow we were typing like mad. . .you got-" 'damnit not again' Lara thought to herself

It wasn't as dark as before, instead white lights illuminated on the walls. She entered a small room which could barely be compared to half her bedroom. There were four file cabinets, a desk with a chair and a dustbin. A picture hung from the wall, nothing could be seen though. Dust covered the glass that protected the image from whatever may happen to it. On the corner of the desk sat a small pencil case with some stationery inside. Lara knelt by the drawers of the desk, as she inspected the drawers she found only one thing. A diary of which she read belonged to someone called David montsegur. He wrote quite a few pages but the index was what caught Lara's attention. _My name is David montsegur and I now know joining the cabal was the biggest mistake in my life. My brother was killed by the master I now serve. I miss my family, that meaning my dearest son Jonathan, my niece Alice and my nephew. Writing down his name would mean his death so this must be kept secret. I discovered this room while on duty one night. I decided to use it as my escape from the sick activity going on upstairs. I made this room to take record of everything, Im on a need-to-know basis and so I don't know what the plans are. _Furthermore he spoke of his experience working for the cabal. Next Lara wiped her fingers across the dust of the photo. She wasn't sure why but the feeling that something was watching her did freak her out in some way. It was still a black and white photo, a young boy stood next to a tall man who had his arm around the boys shoulder, pulling him closer Another man was standing beside the two, holding a girl on his shoulders. The boy was obviously a lot older than the girl. It was hard to estimate their age since the picture looked like it had gone through a lot. She could barely make out their faces. Lara had put it on the table face down, she then moved onto the file cabinet. Immediately she searched for her name, then kurtis's but neither were there. Though there were quite a few things on the cabal and lux veritatis. Lara had looked back for a second when her eye had caught sight of something rather odd. She left the cabinets exactly as they were. On the opposite wall there was a change of colour in the paint. There was definitely something behind it, Lara took a knife and cut on the lines of the unusual paint. She had it open when she heard a sound much like a countdown. "bloody hell" she yelled to herself and grabbed the paper lying in the compartment, she had also grabbed the picture on her way out. She climbed the ladder as quick as she possibly could. She quickly looked back hoping she had not missed a single thing since this was probably the last time she would ever have the chance to see it. Lara was running out of time and she knew it, she found a door that led to the arena. When she was standing on the ledge again she jumped, she had to wait a few seconds for the pain in her feet to go away. Zip and Alistair had started yelling as soon as they were in contact with Lara again, but she didn't take notice. Lara was in the middle of the room when a loud alarm went off, she wasn't going to make it. She could hear various parts of the building blow up. She closed her eyes shut and sat on her knees, waiting for her death to approach. Suddenly she felt extremely cold, she kept her eyes closed though. The creature had returned and was kneeling over Lara. Protecting her from the blast. Lara wanted to yell as she heard flames erupt around them, she felt freaked out as it felt like a dead body was holding her. When it grew quiet around them Lara shoved the creature off her and rubbed her upper arm. A piece of metal cut her, she had bruises and a few burns here and there. The creature was unharmed, as he stood in the extreme glow the fire provided Lara saw that he was changing. His appearance of a creature turned to a human form, before she entered the strahov. His eyes stayed unchanged, even though he helped Lara she had that demonic, sadistic and pure evil look in his eyes, much like Karel's. She could feel the red liquid seep through her shirt. Police sirens were visible from afar but Lara still had enough time to get the answers she needed.

"why did you help me?" Lara was still holding her arm

"I follow the master but I need not follow his orders if there are none." He saw the sun rise in the horizon, as soon as Lara turned to see what had caught his attention he gave another screeching sound and then he disappeared, vanished.

"whoa girl what was that about, and who, what was that?"

"déjà vu" Lara said while busy taking off all the gear.

"damnit Lara be more careful" Alistair screamed while looking hard into the computer screen as if Lara would see the worry in his eyes

"oh lighten up Al it wasn't that bad, you've seen worse . . .now call Eddie for a flight immediately before I have a run in with the police" the others didn't really have time to say goodbye when Lara had switched off the headset.

The sun was already out and a little of it's warmth hit her. She had almost no time before the police came so she put all the weapons back into the bag she had left in an alley three blocks from the strahov. She took a few turns in and out of alleys, when she had reentered the hotel room everyone stared intently at Lara as she stood in the door frame. She forgot all about her image, at that moment she looked as if she was hit by lightning. She ignored them and went straight to the front desk where the receptionist sat, "please have my bill ready ill be out in ten minutes"

"of course miss, are you all right you look hurt? Should I phone an ambulance?"

"no ill be fine, I just got mugged out on in alley nothing serious. Now please get the bill ready" Lara ignored the ignorant stares watching as she ascended the stairs to her room. She put away everything she had brought with her. She didn't even bother to clean up, she wanted to leave this dreadful city before she had another police report to take care of. She had just reached the airport when on the TV she saw a news report about the strahov. A reporter was asking quite a lot of questions about the building itself but the police always said the same, 'no comment my ass' Lara said softly to herself. When she had finally boarded she looked out the window while searching through her pocket for the paper she found in the strahov, the photo was in her backpack but unfortunately she didn't have time to grab the diary. Hopefully whatever she found would lead her to the man she fought was dead, to kurtis. He was the only man she had ever known to be as strong as her. She didn't know why she wanted so much to find him but something about him made her feel different. On the paper before her were blueprint to a building, with a small note attached. _I have overheard a rumor of an exact replica build in turkey of the strahov. It is located in Istanbul. I am saddened to see that the master has more than one way to release hell on earth as he said. _'great' Lara said in frustration. When back in London she took off all the extra clothes that she had warn for warmth. She opened the gate using the password only she and her three friends knew, Winston, Alistair and zip. A hard thud sound repeated itself as Lara knocked on the front wooden doors to her mansion. She stood there waiting for the door to open and for her to go through her usual routine of showering and running off somewhere into the unknown. Noting happened, she knocked once more. This time Winston opened the door and let the lady of the house inside. She now knew why no one had opened at first. Even she, Lara croft couldn't believe her eyes

* * *

**thanks a lot for the reviews i appreciate it a lot, it really keeps me going ;-) but please dont stop. The next chapter will be up as soon as possible, ill try for within the next week,it really bugs me when people make you wait so long for a chapter, and you really want to know what happens next and then they take months to write it so ill try to not do that okay. lul**


	4. back from the dead

**i wanted them to have an instant chemistry, it wouldve killed me to just leave them for too long but wait for the next chapter, its going to be better. . .i hope ;-)**

* * *

Kurtis was standing in the middle of the hall, he looked terrible absolutely terrible. It looked as if he couldn't be standing on his own two feet. Blood was seeping through his shirt and the remains of what looked to be bandages hung below, drenched in blood. 'kurtis?' Lara had said it almost too soft to be a whisper. She threw the bags to zip and walked closer. She didn't want to but she remembered the awful conversation she had had with Karel when he changed into kurtis. She immediately pulled the 9mm out of the gun holsters of which she had put on when she was on her way here. When her gun was ready to fire a bullet between his eyes he had a gun of his own ready.

"hallo Lara did you run into any trouble while I was gone" came the voice from the man she had though to be dead. Lara was shocked but she wasn't going to show it, but inside it was killing her. This couldn't be true, it has to be a dream, he died and people who died isn't suppose to be talking, not even walking. . .was she losing her mind?

"no of course not I was taking vacation, what you expect?" Lara fired back with her own sarcasm

"didn't expect you to give me a warm welcome but to kill me don't ya thing that's a bit unnecessary" he gave that smirk he did way back then. He closed his eyes for a second while starting to get uneasy on his feet. He suddenly fell to his side, Lara completely forgot about Karel and let the gun drop to the floor with a sudden thud. She sat on her knees next to him while placing two fingers against his neck to feel for a pulse, there was one a very faint one. She opened his mouth and proceeded with mouth-to-mouth respiration. 'wake up kurtis, don't you dare die or ill run to the ends of the world to bring you back and then ill kill you myself' she said while pressing on his chest. Lara had given up after ten minutes and sat back, he couldn't just return and die so soon. Its not fair, but so was everything else in her life. Her mother was sent to hell, that wasn't fair, her father had disappeared that wasn't fair, Amanda was now her enemy, that wasn't fair, she had to save the world over and over again and that wasn't fair either.

"nice, Cherrie flavored lip ice" kurtis said while coughing hard to the new oxygen entering his lungs. Lara tried to help him up but he refused help and stood unsteady on his feet. Lara was shocked at how much she wanted this man to live.

"sit down and show me your wrist" he was in too much pain to comment on her demands so he did as she said

Lara took his hand rubbing at his wrist till he spoke again "you're not gonne find it Lara it ain't there" she knew what he was talking about and decided to leave it there. If the symbol wasn't there then he probably wasn't Karel.

"zip quickly get the first aid" zip ran to his tech room and got what she asked, he set it down next to her where she was sitting on her knees. "lift up your shirt kurtis"

"don't ya think it's a bit early for that, we've only seen each other for a few min-" he stopped of the deadly stare Lara gave him and did as instructed.

"this is going to hurt a little" she said while pulling the old bandages off. He had a nasty cut over his stomach. She threw disinfectants on. He bit hard on his teeth while the burning continued. Lara started to give him stitches when he tried to refuse but instead of stopping she just continued. He was almost cleaned up except for the nasty cut on his upper arm, Lara tended to it as well. He needed rest so she helped him to his feet and took him to the guestroom next to her bedroom. She had put his arm around her shoulders, when they reached the bedroom Lara helped him sit down. She gently lifted his arm from her shoulder and went to the closet. "so how did you escape from Karel?" she asked without thinking. She took out a pair of black cargo pants and a white shirt from the wardrobe.

"hold on, how'd you know i where I was" she immediately realized her mistake as she handed the clothes to kurtis.

"its not important" she looked down at the mattress as she sat on a chair she had pulled next to the bed

"Lara. how. did. you. know" he asked again.

"I had dreams, dreams of what Karel did to you. At first I didn't think anything of them but when, I went to Prague to see if I missed anything last time"

"but when?"

"damnit kurtis am I being interrogated. Get some rest you've been through a lot"

before Lara could get up and leave kurtis gently pulled her back by her forearm "thanks croft" he smiled at her and she returned a smile. She was so happy that kurtis was back, he made her feel protected when he was near. She never thought shed feel like this toward someone but she just knew she could trust him, it was like destiny for them to meet. She scolded herself immediately for thinking that since she had already told who ever it was back in Prague that she doesn't believe in fairytales. She hadn't realized she reached the bottom of the stairs until she bumped into Alistair. "sorry Alistair".

"its fine, you should check yourself out, if you remember correct you were in a bloody big explosion"

"it wasn't that big, ill be fine" Alistair nodded and continued up the stairs. Lara grabbed her backpack and walked through the greenish doors of the tech room and went to sit next to zip.

"so you have anything on our friends from earlier?" Lara said when zip anxiously ripped the earphones from his head and looked at Lara with startled eyes.

"that's twice now you've tried to make me jump outa my skin"

"now, now zip no need to get a stroke. As I was saying, anything on Carmichael?"

"oh yeah I got that the day you asked me, you ain't gonne like it"

"I thought you had more faith in me"

"they've been dead for twenty years, died in a gunfight"

"then who was I talking to earlier?" Lara said while standing up with the backpack in her hand. She once again walked up the stairs but this time it was to her own bedroom. She was exhausted to be honest, not even mentioning that it was nine in the evening, her flight was stalled thanks to unforeseen circumstances. She climbed in the shower, all the rubble, dirt as well as dried blood was washed off. She dried her hair with a towel and made it into a braid, she had silk pajamas on after cleaning the cuts she had all over her body. She had missed that sort of adrenaline rush and with kurtis here everything felt normal, well normal to someone like her. She fell asleep quite early, it was a peaceful slumber until a nightmare came by once more to haunt her in an unconscious state. The words the man or whatever he was in Prague played over and over in her head. She suddenly sat straight up in her bed covered in sweat. She got dressed in he combat clothes but she wanted to know what he was talking about so her first stop was the library. She scanned every single book in the library but she couldn't find a single thing on lux veritatis or nephilim, well not anything she hasn't read before. The residents of the house all slowly began to awake and doing their own routine. Lara ran swiftly past Winston toward her bedroom.

"morning Winston, hope you slept well" Winston just rolled his eyes and continued on with what needn't be his duties but those which he refused to retire from

Lara was colleting the disc from her backpack when something caught her eye on a picture frame of her father and a fellow archeologist he knew. But unfortunately his friend had been deceased for years because of a heart attack. Her father was holding a scroll in his hand with the sign of the lux veritatis on. 'oh daddy you always had me blind didn't you but you were always right' Lara said to herself and a smile crept to the corners of her mouth. Lara then went to kurtis's room where he was nowhere to be seen, 'oh bloody hell' she said to herself again. Then she heard a few things break downstairs. This time the noise came from the kitchen. She grabbed a pistol at her side and cautiously walked to the kitchen. Once there, Alistair was standing raising his hands in surrender. Zip was standing over a pan of scrambled eggs and kurtis was also sitting there at the table next to the window. His feet was set on the table and a cigarette was dangling from his mouth. To the scene in front of her Lara could tell that one way or another that the guys didn't care much for the noise they made.

"at least its not another two hundred thousand year old pot. What-happened-in-here" Lara comfortably tucked away the gun in it's holster.

"how the hell do you do that with a clear conscience? scaring people half to death" zip said trying to avoid the situation

"zip just tell me what happened ill try my best to understand it from a morons point of view"

"ouch, I was cooking some breakfast then your friend came in so I turned with the pan and Alistair thought it to be funny if he scared my from behind"

"oh for heavens sake you're worst than a four year old, both of you" Lara corrected herself when Alistair let out a slight laugh

"Alistair go do an inventory for something relating to the lux veritatis, zip you better have me all the information about the second strahov and where's Winston today"

"yes mother" zip sarcastically told Lara while walking out the door

"he went to buy some clothes for our visitor and some groceries for the house" Alistair said to Lara when he picked up the books from behind him on the counter. Kurtis looked at the man as if to say the-visitor-has-a-name .

"im sorry they're not used to having new people around the house, well not any they can trust"

"yeah and you point a gun at everyone you trust, where'd you get my chirugai and what's this about a second strahov" he said when he twitched his fingers and the disc sprang to life in Lara's hand. It returned to it's owners hand from where Lara sat opposite kurtis.

"always expect the worst. Secondly I got the disc on the floor of the arena, it was covered in blood. . .when I went back I found a few things including blueprints to a strahov in turkey" she looked down and kurtis could clearly see that it hurt her somewhat.

"i know about the creature Lara" kurtis said

"how?"

"don't worry I wasn't spying on you, well not directly"

* * *

"What aren't you telling me kurtis" Lara asked calmly

* * *

"stop worrying Lara its nothing serious" Lara did wanted him to trust her so she decided to leave the conversation for now.

* * *

"if you try anything that I don't approve of I will take care of you my way, in any case we need to go clean you wound so come on"

* * *

"fine, but I'm telling you there's no need"

As he started to walk and Lara got up from her chair he spoke again "its good to see you Lara" Lara looked happy as she smiled at him and walked after him to his room. When he was sitting on the bed and Lara had once again cleaned the wound and put on new bandages. She stood up and started walking downstairs to where her friends were.

"ill be downstairs if you need me" she closed the door behind her. Alistair was once more in his favorite armchair, reading books on lux veritatis no doubt. Zip as usual had his earphones on and was sitting back in his chair with his hands tucked behind his neck. Both of them sat up as Lara entered the room. Lara was thinking of the picture she saw in her room.

"so are you thinking of how to kill us or what's going on" zip said yet staying as calm as ever.

"im not that bad zip, Id just like it if you would be a bit friendlier to kurtis"

"frankly im kinde used to it you know, but look on the bright side they didn't hold a gun to my head" kurtis said after descending the stairs and calling his bag to him telekinetically

"thin ice kurtis, if you die, don't say I didn't warn you" Lara said not even once turning around.

"I got the message. Lara. . . ." he paused a second till she turned and looked at him, "he wants the grail, if he fills it with water from a sacred well, then he'll have the ability to bring back his kind into this world and not to mention the immortality which he already has, so hell just be twice as strong as he is now."

"where's this fountain and what's it called?"

"I don't know, apparently its only recorded in lux documents further no one knows anything bout' it but that's my problem im not dragging you into it like I did last time" kurtis said while telekinetically calling his duffel bag toward him.

"I don't need you to worry about me I can handle it, damnit I thought these two were bad" Lara sad rolling her eyes

"you don't know what he's capable of" kurtis said looking at the floor, clearly remembering something painful

"and he doesn't know what im capable of. Damnit kurtis what do you think ive been doing the past few years, resting"

"he'll kill you as soon as he sees you, you're expecting me to bring you face to face with the devil and I ain't doing it"

"im not asking!" Lara held a gun in his direction.

"then let me make it easier for you" he walked closer, close enough that the barrel of the gun pointed in between his eyes and he felt the cold metal against his skin.

Lara pulled the trigger but as kurtis reopened his eyes the barrel was still in between his eyes. He hadn't expected Lara to really pull the trigger but now he knew he shouldn't be getting on the wrong side of her. "next time ill do it before target practice"

He smirked then put down the bag that hung in his hand "you've gained some courage since Paris"

"ive had worse, now forget the bag and grab a chair" Lara said as kurtis sat next to her, with the other two opposite them.

"wait'a'min, is anyone gonne tell me why he has super powers" Lara and kurtis exchanged a look before turning to zip.

Kurtis then answered "Ever heard of lux veritatis" Alistair nodded but zip just gave a puzzling look

"a group of warrior monks, light of truth. They fought against evil" Lara added

"well I have abilities, one of them being telekinetic" kurtis continued.

"what're the others?" zip asked but instead of answering kurtis just smirked mischievously.

"now if were done with each others biography, especially mister montsegur's. Alistair have you done the inventory?".

"no nothing, why'd you wanne do an inventory?"

"no reason just to keep you two busy, so where were we. . .the grail?"

Kurtis looked genuinely surprised that Lara knew his real name but said nothing and tucked his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes shut. Lara slightly shook her head and rested her feet on the table while crossing her arms over her chest.

"and im just suppose to guess where it is" she said and kurtis opened one eye to look at her.

"the cittabel of montsegur"

"montsegur, isn't it the same as-"

Alistair was cut off by Lara "the notebook I found and lost in the strahov before it blew up. . .he had a secret room in the arena, he had a map of the strahov in turkey" It looked as if kurtis recognized the name but quickly wiped all emotion from his face.

"you wanne talk about what happened in Prague Lara?" Lara wanted to but what it said to her she wanted to check on it first.

"no I don't, looks like ill be taking a job then after all. Zip you guys know what to do and by the way where the hell does Winston keep disappearing to?" Lara added but her question was answered soon enough when a heap of clothes came crashing down from the third storey

Winston calmly followed and stood with a lighter, ready to send the dirty laundry into oblivion "he wouldn't, no wonder I haven't seen him all morning" zip said as he rushed from the chair and ran swiftly to the heap of clothes. Winston closed the lighter and walked past over to Lara.

"anything I can do for you lady croft"

"please bring kurtis a beer, Alistair will probably have some tea and please take care that zip doesn't go into some sort of panic attack" Winston gave a comforting smile and disappeared into the kitchen. Alistair stood up and started off to the study, probably to prepare for the time ahead.

"you're not having anything?" kurtis asked now sitting up in his chair.

"not before I go to the gym, no" she smiled mischievously and started walking out the tech room. She pushed open the door to the hallway that led out to the beautifully designed fountain and then through the double doors of the gym. She was already dressed in the right attire. Standing ready on a blue mat, she counted to three and started doing the course. Her first obstacle was a horizontal pole followed by a vertical pole, a platform, fake blades, still deadly though, rope, grapple hook, and then the first of five fake golden artifacts. 'one down, four to go' Lara told herself while catching her breath. She grabbed a crack in the wall and climbed towards a slope, she slid off and jumped before reaching the end, grabbing a climbing wall that hung from the roof. She climbed to the top to a trap door and pulled herself in, grabbing the second artifact. Next she jumped out, once again grabbing the climbing wall. She made it round to the other side when a red light began ringing throughout the room. Behind her was a rope and she immediately, by instinct grabbed the rope. As soon as she did the wall she was previously hanging from retracted into the roof. She looked down to see two fake dummies of mercenaries firing blanks at her. They were obviously programmed to fire at Lara since zip upgraded them only days ago. Lara suddenly let go of the rope with her hands, twisting her foot in a loop in the rope while grabbing her pistols in the process. She had her one leg twisted in the rope and the other slightly bended, she was hanging upside down shooting at her targets. Their plastic heads were shot into pieces when Lara pointed the guns between azure eyes that felt as if they could see right through her. She broke the gaze by shaking her head, returning the guns to their right full places and turning right side up on the rope. She dropped to the ground and crouched as soon as her feet came in contact with the hard concrete floor.

"it seems you want to get shot today kurtis" Lara said as she took a towel from the chair and wiped the sweat off her face.

"I know you croft, you wouldn't" Lara looked at him with a surprising expression covering her face, wondering why she always ended up speechless with him. He was so confident, so cocky and so arrogant but those were the qualities that puzzled Lara. . . in a good way.

"why didn't you ever tell me you were alive" Lara suddenly asked while constantly looking down at her feet. Unfortunately she didn't actually want to ask it but it was merely a though that came aloud.

"I wanted to I just couldn't, I ran into a few uhm. . . . complications" he wasn't being completely truth full with her but he had no choice.

'So I'm just suppose to guess what you're thinking' Lara though to herself when a muscular voice spoke deep in her mind 'you should get used to it' Lara looked up with astonished eyes

"how did you-" she was cut off when zip stood in the doorframe, out of breath and barely staying up. She had no need to ask what had happened since he just gestured for them to come, quickly by his expression. Lara and kurtis started jogging toward the main hall. As always zip was sitting at the desk with the main computer monitor. Lara and kurtis both stood questioning in front of him while Alistair shook his head and sat on the armchair, resting his head in his hands while putting his elbows on his knees. Suddenly a picture showed on the screen, a picture that somewhat resembled a news report. 'a building had exploded three hours ago, few survived but those who did had fatal injuries. A small girl however emerged untouched by the flames, a obscure figure of an unknown woman put the girl in the back alley and was seen jumping into darkness from building to building. Police are looking into this and have still not had any good pictures to work with. . .this is Amy Bartowski reporting for twenty four hour news' the woman said before the picture began playing. The figure of a women with long hair in a braid, you could only see that it was a woman, everything else was covered by darkness. One thing that was clear was a crimson red tattoo on her neck, shining even though everything else was hidden.

"look familiar?" zip asked as though expecting that Lara was going to smash the computer into bits and pieces.

"its atlantean" Lara said shaking her head in disbelief.

"atlantean?" kurtis asked looking closer at the screen.

"like I said I've had worse" Lara said while turning to go out the tech room when a question suddenly came to mind "when and where?"

"London, the country side orphanage for seniors" Lara felt as if her heart sank deeper than her feet but did not let the others notice.

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**i hope you liked it and than for the reviews, it really help, it keeps me positive. If you have ideas feel free to tell me, kay! ;-) *-: :-* ;-)**


	5. Croft equals secrets

**okay so i took a little long, not my fault its the internet i tell you! in any case im sorry and promise to make up for it okay so just wait for the magic to continue...**

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She walked to her room with her eyes constantly on the ground. 'Great just what I need another immortal thing'. . . Lara was sitting on the bed, she had spent hours looking through her father's journals and looking at the picture, even though he hid it, he never hid it this well. Whatever was in the scrolls were definitely very important or very dangerous. The door opened exactly the same time Lara had lost her temper and thrown the book toward the deep blue eyes of the man that easily cached the book before it made contact with his face.

"So you're already searching for the scrolls?" kurtis said in a play full manner.

"What, how'd you know?" Lara was truly astonished at what kurtis had just asked her.

'I read minds remember' he whispered in her mind, and then Lara remembered of the incident in the gym.

"So you're a gypsy?"

"It's called telepathy, a lux trick" kurtis corrected her.

"Well then I'd like it you'd stay out of my head" Lara added

"Not possible croft, it's the only place I can find the old Lara" Lara felt as if a dagger was being pressed through her skin and pierced through her heart.

"The old Lara?" she asked without turning to make eye contact but deep down she knew the answer.

"You weren't as serious and hard headed as you are now, you've isolated yourself too much" 'since when do you care' Lara thought to herself while still holding her pose. "I do care" he once again told her.

Lara was getting too close to him, she cared too much "do you blame me for changing, it's been seven years a lot has happened. My mother disappeared, my best friend tried to kill me, I saved the world from an Atlantean queen, a goddess or whatever you'd like to call her. A few months back I discovered she was alive, she took me to hellheim where I found my mother. . ." a few teardrops escaped and rolled over her cheek "she was a lifeless thrall. Then after seven years I get dreams, dreams about things and people id rather forget and then you turn up. . . I keep getting dragged into these things, whether it be willing or not" Lara gasped air from a breath she didn't even know she was holding.

Kurtis took walked around so that he was now facing Lara, he lifted her face and wiped the tears from her cheeks. He then cupped her face and looked deep in her eyes, "I'm sorry I left Lara" he whispered to her with empathy. They gazed deep in each other's eyes, kurtis and Lara got closer, close enough for her to smell his aftershave and the smell of smoke, even though she never liked smoke, it was somewhat attractive about kurtis. He could smell the scent of the shampoo she used. He took her by the waist and pulled her closer while her hands rested comfortably on his broad shoulders. Their lips met softly, a smile crept on both their faces while they just stood there absorbing the moment. Suddenly the door flew open and Winston came in, they had pulled apart the moment they heard the door's creaking sound. Winston eyed the pair suspiciously when kurtis started walking out the door without looking back, not even once. Lara wanted to hold on to that moment forever, she felt so safe and it felt amazing. But in some way she felt guilty, guilty for getting close to someone, especially since he's a man. Since the moment she met him, she felt attracted to him.

"I brought you some tea lady croft" the same old Winston, always fond of Lara even though she was, well. . . Lara.

"Thank you Winston it sounds lovely" he then walked out the door returning to his normal duties, and closed the door behind him. Lara took off the usual fingerless gloves and took a sip from the warm yet delicious tea. Lara didn't have anything else to do so she started to pick up the books thrown all around her bedroom yet she longed for kurtis to be with her again, to feel the warmth of his body but she immediately pushed the thoughts aside. When she reached out to take the book she had thrown to kurtis, she got sudden chills. The outside of the book was icy cold, 'note to self inspect journals without gloves'. She set the other books at her side on a heap and picked up the book at her feet. It wasn't just cold but heavy as well, not heavy for Lara but heavier than the other books. She took the book downstairs to the hall and set down on the side table, zip and Alistair walked closer to see what she was doing while kurtis leaned against the side of the fireplace and watches intently at Lara. Both Lara and kurtis was afraid to get near each other after the incident that took place in Lara's room. Lara pulled the switchblade from her boot and started cutting along the edge of the cover. Inside rested a metal box, a very thin and flat one. It had a button and Lara pressed it, a clicking sound came from the small box that now rested on Lara's lap. Inside was a paper with the sketch of a young girl and in the corner the sign of the lux veritatis, she looked almost familiar but Lara couldn't figure out where she had seen her before. Why did her family have so many secrets she asked herself?

"A sketch, your father left you a sketch . . . what're you suppose to do run around the world and look for her" kurtis was obviously pissed, probably because of what happened.

"Oh would you calm down, to my father everything was something" Lara defended her father

"What's that suppose to mean", Lara looked at kurtis where he now stood in front of the painting, the same as the previous. Her father had a copy made for each house in case something happened because according to him it was one of the happiest moments of his life and he never wanted to lose it. Lara noticed the small photo frame on the table of a young girl resembling the sketch in Lara's hand.

Winston soon joined them, "what is it lady croft?" he asked when he noticed that something caught her eye.

"Winston have you ever seen that photo frame behind father in the portrait?" everyone turned to look at what Lara was talking about

"Come to think about it my lady, no not since your father disappeared" Winston was clearly deep in thought

Lara had figured it out "father left searching for mother, mother was in hellheim, and he was keeping the gaunlet from Natla and she killed him for it . . . right before he left he took everything to the other study where Natla would never find it. He always was good at these things"

"Are you absolutely certain it's down there?" Alistair asked remembering the gruesome events leading to the bullet wound that almost ended his life.

Lara hesitated at first, but this was what she lived for, what she was taught since she could remember. She lived for the thrill of the game but usually her games end up a lot more serious than they look and sound like "it's the best I've got so far so yes Alistair I'm certain" Lara got up from her seat, nodding for Winston so that he'd get the key and open up.

Alistair stayed behind with Winston while Lara, kurtis, and zip went down the stairs into the crypt where the grave of her grandfather, Richard James croft laid. It was covered by dust, untouched for months. Everyone agreed that it be best to lock it and never go back. Lara crouched next to where the switch to opening the entrance was. The gravestone gave way to reveal the dark empty hall she used last time to enter her father's study.

"I know you do this all the time but damnit Lara you've got to admit this is creepy" Lara just ignored him while rolling her eyes,-men- Lara thought as she jumped into the hole.

"Get used to it dude, see ya on the other side" zip said while hitting the torch slightly for it to shed some light. Kurtis shook his head in disbelief and followed after Lara.

"Lara, mind going a tad bit slower I mean it's not as if were being chased or something" Lara wanted to reply but heard a sort of dragging sound from within the darkness.

"Shhhh did you hear that?" Lara whispered while taking a few steps back. Instead of answering kurtis nodded, then standing next to Lara with his gun held out in front of him, Lara also pulled out her 9 mm guns and held them in front of her. Once more the sound came, a lot closer this time. Suddenly the skeleton resembling that of a tiger jumped Lara, knocking her off her feet for a few moments. Kurtis then started shooting at the thralls back. A light blue liquid started to drip from where the bullets pierced the bones.

"Get down!" Lara yelled as she threw a sticky grenade on the thrall, kurtis ducked behind a pillar just in time when the grenade sent bones flying everywhere.

"What the hell was that?" kurtis asked as soon as he regained his posture.

"Just a few pets he brought back from an excavation" kurtis was used to these kind of things but he really didn't want to know where the horrible missformed 'pets' came from.

Kurtis and Lara stayed quiet while she retraced herself to where she came to the table; with the tape recorder still sitting in the same position it had last time. Lara had the urge to press the play button even if it meant just hearing her father's voice for a few minutes but decided that it be best if she didn't. She had to move on, that chapter of her life ended in when she had said her final goodbyes to her mother. Lara closed her eyes for a second, then moved on to one of the bookshelves. She remembered a picture frame from last time she came but she had no time to look at it properly. It was nowhere until she moved a pile of books from one side to the other. There it was, the photo. A thick, brown layer of dust prevented them to see the photo behind the thin glass. With her thumb Lara wiped it so that you could see almost clearly the identical twin picture of the sketch. She looked for any type of clue, but found nothing. . .she knew her and kurtis's flight was the next morning so she may as well look at it before then. They were about to leave when Lara triggered some sort of meganism by putting the picture in her backpack. A small object fell from the roof onto the desk. Lara cautiously walked closer and inspected the black object closely. Another tape recorder lay next to the old one, Lara slowly pressed the play button.

"My dear Lara I miss you so much, when you get this you must already have found the gaunlet and I hope dearly that you found your mother, if not just remember we both loved you very much… I found scrolls relating to the lux veritatis and the Holy Grail but they were more dangerous in the wrong hand s than you could possibly imagine. Do you remember the week we spend in Cambodia and the temple we found, remember. That was one of my favorite memories. . ." Lara turned ad started to walk back to kurtis. The tape recorder didn't stop, her father just took a little break it seems. "I l-" his voice was cut off when Lara pulled a gun from its holster and fired it into the recorder.

She gave a smirk and continued on, "why'd you do that?" Kurtis asked!

"I got tired listening to it" Lara simply stated and gestured for him to follow. Lucky for them they didn't run into any thralls on their way back. They once again stood in the main hall with the others, everyone either stood or sat and just stared blankly at the picture that stood on the table.

"Anyone?" Lara asked, everyone shook their heads, all but zip, he just yawned and waved his hand at Lara.

Lara sighed then decided that this was enough for one day, "come on boys lets go to bed we have work tomorrow and staring at a picture won't help", zip didn't mind to even say goodnight just went straight to his bedroom.

"Night Lara, see tomorrow" Alistair said while waving his hand. Lara caught sight of kurtis, he was staring at her, she shook her head and proceeded to get up from the couch.

"croft!" kurtis said loudly and Lara turned to face him.

Lara looked at kurtis's deep blue eyes "sorry 'bout this afternoon" Lara felt guilty herself but didn't want to get attached to him, she's done that to everyone she cared about.

"We were confused it was a mistake, no fuss, night" Lara once again turned to walk up the stairs but wanted to shoot herself in the foot for saying that. She never meant it, she did not mind what happened but she wasn't going to let anyone else know that. As kurtis disappeared from her sight Lara started to jog toward her room, she turned on the shower. After she had taken a quick shower she put on her silk summer pajamas and lay on top of the sheets. Lara tried to remember the week in Cambodia but could remember no such thing. It was extremely humid in her room, it was quite different from the typical weather in London. Kurtis and Lara were leaving for France tomorrow at seven, then they planned to book a hotel and search for the grail the following day. Lara had thought of searching for the grail before but she never had the time. Just when she thought she was going to get a bit of relaxation in the next job or death threat so to speak drags her into a thrilling adventure. She slept quite peaceful since kurtis was back, no nightmares of Karel. Lara was packed and ready to go the next morning. Her duffle bag and suitcase was already downstairs. She had checked her watch over a thousand times while Winston stood with her, Alistair getting all the books ready in case Lara needed assistance and zip was busy getting the technical things ready in case of emergency but he still enjoyed doing it though.

"Damnit what's taking so long" Lara said aloud, Winston just pulled up his shoulders. Lara was already impatient, not just because of him but because of her own stubbornness and stupidity. Lara checked her watch again and noticed that they had only twenty minutes left to get to the airport. "I've waited long enough" Lara said quite loud and started to jog up the stairs, she was wearing the same outfit she did when she was searching for Excalibur, the piece she searched for in England. Lara knocked on kurtis's door when he confirmed that she may come in.

"something wrong?" kurtis asked, he was wearing cargo pants, for the moment Lara was there he hadn't put his t-shit on yet. Lara was shocked at how well he recovered, he was well built and nothing of his injuries remained, not even a scar. "Lara" he said in an almost teasing way!

"No of course not it's just were going to have to chase through traffic and I have enough speed tickets already!" Lara shook her head in order to stop staring.

"oh would you lighten up croft, its not like I'm going to take another hour" he pulled he pulled his t-shirt over his head, it was a plain black shirt with a white long sleeved shirt underneath. He was wearing a pair of black cargo pants, it was neatly tucked into a pair of combat boots. "See done already" he walked past her brushing her shoulder as he did so. Lara followed him, mumbling something along the lines of 'men'.

When they reached downstairs Lara picked up her bags and stood still as kurtis walked out the front door. "Are you planning on walking all the way to the airport" kurtis turned to look at her, he leaned on the doorframe.

"What ain't I allowed to take my bike anymore?" he grinned playfully

"no it's going to get stolen and I'm not buying a new one, were taking my car and in case you were wondering the garage's this way" kurtis shrugged and followed after her.

When he walked down the stairs, he admired the amount of sport cars and motorcycles. He searched for Lara when she waved a hand to him from the window of a silver Porsche. He was finally inside with his bag, along with hers in the trunk. "Oh yeah I forgot they don't steal sport cars" his voice full of sarcasm.

"Not mine" Lara answered back as soon as the doors of the garage opened and she sped out.

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**at some point my imagination stopped working so if the chapter doesnt seem so good im sorry but its almost the best ive got. . .happy reading plus id love some review please mwhaz**


	6. pieces of a secret

**disclaimer: i do not own any of these characters, none of those featured in tomb raider anyway, and really it sucks **

**oh and just bare with me, the best is still to come by the way i thank you alll for the reviews it really makes me happy :-)**

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She walked to her room with her eyes constantly on the ground. 'Great just what I need another immortal thing'. . . Lara was sitting on the bed, she had spent hours looking through her father's journals and looking at the picture, even though he hid it, he never hid it this well. Whatever was in the scrolls were definitely very important or very dangerous. The door opened exactly the same time Lara had lost her temper and thrown the book toward the deep blue eyes of the man that easily cached the book before it made contact with his face.

"So you're already searching for the scrolls?" kurtis said in a playfull manner.

"What, how'd you know?" Lara was truly astonished at what kurtis had just asked her.

'I read minds remember' he whispered in her mind, and then Lara remembered of the incident in the gym.

"So you're a gypsy?"

"It's called telepathy, a lux trick" kurtis corrected her.

"Well then I'd like it you'd stay out of my head" Lara added

"Not possible croft, it's the only place I can find the old Lara" Lara felt as if a dagger was being pressed through her skin and pierced through her heart.

"The old Lara?" she asked without turning to make eye contact but deep down she knew the answer.

"You weren't as serious and hard headed as you are now, you've isolated yourself too much" 'since when do you care' Lara thought to herself while still holding her pose. "I do care" he once again told her.

Lara was getting too close to him, she cared too much "do you blame me for changing, it's been seven years a lot has happened. My mother disappeared, my best friend tried to kill me, I saved the world from an Atlantean queen, a goddess or whatever you'd like to call her. A few months back I discovered she was alive, she took me to hellheim where I found my mother. . ." a few teardrops escaped and rolled over her cheek "she was a lifeless thrall. Then after seven years I get dreams, dreams about things and people id rather forget and then you turn up. . . I keep getting dragged into these things, whether it be willing or not" Lara gasped air from a breath she didn't even know she was holding.

Kurtis took walked around so that he was now facing Lara, he lifted her face and wiped the tears from her cheeks. He then cupped her face and looked deep in her eyes, "I'm sorry I left Lara" he whispered to her with empathy. They gazed deep in each other's eyes, kurtis and Lara got closer, close enough for her to smell his aftershave and the smell of smoke, even though she never liked smoke, it was somewhat attractive about kurtis. He could smell the scent of the shampoo she used. He took her by the waist and pulled her closer while her hands rested comfortably on his broad shoulders. Their lips met softly, a smile crept on both their faces while they just stood there absorbing the moment. Suddenly the door flew open and Winston came in, they had pulled apart the moment they heard the door's creaking sound. Winston eyed the pair suspiciously when kurtis started walking out the door without looking back, not even once. Lara wanted to hold on to that moment forever, she felt so safe and it felt amazing. But in some way she felt guilty, guilty for getting close to someone, especially since he's a man. Since the moment she met him, she felt attracted to him.

"I brought you some tea lady croft" the same old Winston, always fond of Lara even though she was, well. . . Lara.

"Thank you Winston it sounds lovely" he then walked out the door returning to his normal duties, and closed the door behind him. Lara took off the usual fingerless gloves and took a sip from the warm yet delicious tea. Lara didn't have anything else to do so she started to pick up the books thrown all around her bedroom yet she longed for kurtis to be with her again, to feel the warmth of his body but she immediately pushed the thoughts aside. When she reached out to take the book she had thrown to kurtis, she got sudden chills. The outside of the book was icy cold, 'note to self inspect journals without gloves'. She set the other books at her side on a heap and picked up the book at her feet. It wasn't just cold but heavy as well, not heavy for Lara but heavier than the other books. She took the book downstairs to the hall and set down on the side table, zip and Alistair walked closer to see what she was doing while kurtis leaned against the side of the fireplace and watched intently at Lara. Both Lara and kurtis was afraid to get near each other after the incident that took place in Lara's room. Lara pulled the switchblade from her boot and started cutting along the edge of the cover. Inside rested a metal box, a very thin and flat one. It had a button and Lara pressed it, a clicking sound came from the small box that now rested on Lara's lap. Inside was a paper with the sketch of a young girl and in the corner the sign of the lux veritatis, she looked almost familiar but Lara couldn't figure out where she had seen her before. Why did her family have so many secrets she asked herself?

"A sketch, your father left you a sketch . . . what're you suppose to do run around the world and look for her" kurtis was obviously pissed, probably because of what happened, the part where winston came through the door and accidentally interrupted them.

"Oh would you calm down, to my father everything was something" Lara defended her father

"What's that suppose to mean", Lara looked at kurtis where he now stood in front of the painting, the same as the previous. Her father had a copy made for each house in case something happened because according to him it was one of the happiest moments of his life and he never wanted to lose it. Lara noticed the small photo frame on the table of a young girl resembling the sketch in Lara's hand.

Winston soon joined them, "what is it lady croft?" he asked when he noticed that something caught her eye.

"Winston have you ever seen that photo frame behind father in the portrait?" everyone turned to look at what Lara was talking about

"Come to think about it my lady, no not since your father disappeared" Winston was clearly deep in thought

Lara had figured it out "father left searching for mother, mother was in hellheim, and he was keeping the gaunlet from Natla and she killed him for it . . . right before he left he took everything to the other study where Natla would never find it. He always was good at these things"

"Are you absolutely certain it's down there?" Alistair asked remembering the gruesome events leading to the bullet wound that almost ended his life.

Lara hesitated at first, but this was what she lived for, what she was taught since she could remember. She lived for the thrill of the game but usually her games end up a lot more serious than they look and sound like "it's the best I've got so far so yes Alistair I'm certain" Lara got up from her seat, nodding for Winston so that he'd get the key and open up.

Alistair stayed behind with Winston while Lara, kurtis, and zip went down the stairs into the crypt where the grave of her grandfather, Richard James croft laid. It was covered by dust, untouched for months. Everyone agreed that it be best to lock it and never go back. Lara crouched next to where the switch to opening the entrance was. The gravestone gave way to reveal the dark empty hall she used last time to enter her father's study.

"I know you do this all the time but damnit Lara you've got to admit this is creepy" Lara just ignored him while rolling her eyes,-men- Lara thought as she jumped into the hole.

"Get used to it dude, see ya on the other side" zip said while hitting the torch slightly for it to shed some light. Kurtis shook his head in disbelief and followed after Lara.

"Lara, mind going a tad bit slower I mean it's not as if were being chased or something" Lara wanted to reply but heard a sort of dragging sound from within the darkness.

"Shhhh did you hear that?" Lara whispered while taking a few steps back. Instead of answering kurtis nodded, then standing next to Lara with his gun held out in front of him, Lara also pulled out her 9 mm guns and held them in front of her. Once more the sound came, a lot closer this time. Suddenly the skeleton resembling that of a tiger jumped Lara, knocking her off her feet for a few moments. Kurtis then started shooting at the thralls back. A light blue liquid started to drip from where the bullets pierced the bones.

"Get down!" Lara yelled as she threw a sticky grenade on the thrall, kurtis ducked behind a pillar just in time when the grenade sent bones flying everywhere.

"What the hell was that?" kurtis asked as soon as he regained his posture.

"Just a few pets he brought back from an excavation" kurtis was used to these kind of things but he really didn't want to know where the horrible missformed 'pets' came from.

Kurtis and Lara stayed quiet while she retraced herself to where she came to the table; with the tape recorder still sitting in the same position it had last time. Lara had the urge to press the play button even if it meant just hearing her father's voice for a few minutes but decided that it be best if she didn't. She had to move on, that chapter of her life ended in when she had said her final goodbyes to her mother. Lara closed her eyes for a second, then moved on to one of the bookshelves. She remembered a picture frame from last time she came but she had no time to look at it properly. Unfortunately she couldnt remember where she saw it until she moved a pile of books from one side to the other. There it was, the photo. A thick, brown layer of dust prevented them to see the photo behind the thin glass. With her thumb Lara wiped it so that you could see almost clearly the identical twin picture of the sketch. She looked for any type of clue, but found nothing. . .she knew her and kurtis's flight was the next morning so she may as well look at it before then. They were about to leave when Lara triggered some sort of meganism by pulling the frame from the shelve putting the picture in her backpack. A small object fell from the roof onto the desk. Lara cautiously walked closer and inspected the black object closely. Another tape recorder lay next to the old one, Lara slowly pressed the play button.

"My dear Lara I miss you so much, when you get this you must already have found the gaunlet and I hope dearly that you found your mother, if not just remember we both loved you very much… I found scrolls relating to the lux veritatis and the Holy Grail but they were more dangerous in the wrong hands than you could possibly imagine. Do you remember the week we spend in Cambodia and the temple we found, remember. That was one of my favorite memories. . ." Lara turned and started to walk back to kurtis. The tape recorder didn't stop, her father just took a little break it seems. "I l-" his voice was cut off when Lara pulled a gun from its holster and fired it into the recorder.

She gave a smirk and continued on, "why'd you do that?" Kurtis asked!

"I got tired listening to it" Lara simply stated and gestured for him to follow. Lucky for them they didn't run into any thralls on their way back. They once again stood in the main hall with the others, everyone either stood or sat and just stared blankly at the picture that stood on the table.

"Anyone?" Lara asked, everyone shook their heads, all but zip, he just yawned and waved his hand at Lara.

Lara sighed then decided that this was enough for one day, "come on boys lets go to bed we have work tomorrow and staring at a picture won't help", zip didn't mind to even say goodnight just went straight to his bedroom.

"Night Lara, see tomorrow" Alistair said while waving his hand. Lara caught sight of kurtis, he was staring at her, she shook her head and proceeded to get up from the couch.

"croft!" kurtis said loudly and Lara turned to face him.

Lara looked at kurtis's deep blue eyes "sorry 'bout this afternoon" Lara felt guilty herself but didn't want to get attached to him, she's done that to everyone she cared about and everyone she cared about usually ended up in a morgue or missing.

"We were confused it was a mistake, no fuss, night" Lara once again turned to walk up the stairs but wanted to shoot herself in the foot for saying that. She never meant it, she did not mind what happened but she wasn't going to let anyone else know that. As kurtis disappeared from her sight Lara started to jog toward her room, she turned on the shower. After she had taken a quick shower she put on her silk summer pajamas and lay on top of the sheets. Lara tried to remember the week in Cambodia but could remember no such thing. It was extremely humid in her room, it was quite different from the typical weather in London. Kurtis and Lara were leaving for France tomorrow at seven, then they planned to book a hotel and search for the grail the following day. Lara had thought of searching for the grail before but she never had the time. Just when she thought she was going to get a bit of relaxation in the next job or death threat so to speak drags her into a thrilling adventure. She slept quite peaceful since kurtis was back, no nightmares of Karel. Lara was packed and ready to go the next morning. Her duffle bag and suitcase was already downstairs. She had checked her watch over a thousand times while Winston stood with her, Alistair getting all the books ready in case Lara needed assistance and zip was busy getting the technical things ready in case of emergency but he still enjoyed doing it though.

"Damnit what's taking so long" Lara said aloud, Winston just pulled up his shoulders. Lara was already impatient, not just because of him but because of her own stubbornness and stupidity. Lara checked her watch again and noticed that they had only twenty minutes left to get to the airport. "I've waited long enough" Lara said quite loud and started to jog up the stairs, she was wearing the same outfit she did when she was searching for Excalibur, the piece she searched for in England. Lara knocked on kurtis's door when he confirmed that she may come in.

"something wrong?" kurtis asked, he was wearing cargo pants, for the moment Lara was there he hadn't put his t-shit on yet. Lara was shocked at how well he recovered, he was well built and nothing of his injuries remained, not even a scar. "Lara" he said in an almost teasing way!

"No of course not it's just were going to have to chase through traffic and I have enough speed tickets already!" Lara shook her head in order to stop staring.

"oh would you lighten up croft, its not like I'm going to take another hour" he pulled he pulled his t-shirt over his head, it was a plain black shirt with a white long sleeved shirt underneath. He was wearing a pair of black cargo pants, it was neatly tucked into a pair of combat boots. "See done already" he walked past her brushing her shoulder as he did so. Lara followed him, mumbling something along the lines of 'men'.

When they reached downstairs Lara picked up her bags and stood still as kurtis walked out the front door. "Are you planning on walking all the way to the airport" kurtis turned to look at her, he leaned on the doorframe.

"What ain't I allowed to take my bike anymore?" he grinned playfully

"no it's going to get stolen and I'm not buying a new one, were taking my car and in case you were wondering the garage's this way" kurtis shrugged and followed after her.

When he walked down the stairs, he admired the amount of sport cars and motorcycles. He searched for Lara when she waved a hand to him from the window of a silver Porsche. He was finally inside with his bag, along with hers in the trunk. "Oh yeah I forgot they don't steal sport cars" his voice full of sarcasm.

"Not mine" Lara answered back as soon as the doors of the garage opened and she sped out.


	7. lara's playground

**thanks for sticking with me till this far, if there are any mistakes in the chapter/story then i apologise. im sorry for the short chapter but im changing a bit of the original story i wrote so ill upload it as soon as possible.**

**oh before i forget (disclaimer: i do not own any of the tomb raider characters that feature in the games or movies)**

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Kurtis was rubbing his forehead as he walked in through the glass doors of the airport. "Would you please stop rubbing your head, it wasn't nearly as hard. . .you're just exaggerating"

"If I knew you were going to smash my head into the window I would have walked instead" kurtis said as he remembered when she braked into the parking space, he hit his head rather hard.

"You're such a wimp, even Alistair complains less than you"

"Well excuse me miss croft but if I'm on a complaining spree why stop now. . .once we set foot through the x-ray machine they're going to think of us as assassins"

"That's what we have zip for" Lara waved to one of the cameras, she knew zip had already taken care of those. They walked in silence toward the x-ray machine when a security guard stopped them. She had blonde hair with green eyes, she was quite attractive but kurtis didn't really have time to notice.

Lara took the bag from him unwillingly and put it on the x-ray machine. The woman checked Lara first, seeing as she finished as fast as possible she really wanted to check kurtis. She was thoroughly searching for any concealed weapons, not that kurtis minded. Lara was getting irritated as it is when she made herself audible. "If you don't mind we have a meeting and were in quite a hurry" she shot an irritated glance at the woman when she stepped away from kurtis and he took his bag. Kurtis winked at Lara before climbing on the private jet, flown by Eddie. Lara was sitting in the corner in the back of the jet while kurtis sat almost completely in front. When Paris came into sight he stood up and walked over to Lara. He took a seat next to her.

"you can't avoid the subject forever Lara what happened, it felt right" kurtis never talked to anyone about his feelings but it was different this time, he cared for Lara. Ever since they met he felt attracted to her, something different. It was as if they were destined to meet. Just like Lara kurtis never believed in fait or destiny, but some things were just meant to happen.

"I'm not getting attached" Lara knew she hurt kurtis but in truth she hurt herself too, a lot.

"attached?"

"our relationship is purely professional"

"We both know you're lying Lara, I don't care if you lie to me but you're lying to yourself. . ."

"thank you doctor Phil, mind telling me why I had the dreams?" Lara knew she was lying but she wasn't prepared to admit it.

"I don't know, I didn't call for help. . .I've been thinking about it a lot since you told me"

"What did Karel do to you kurtis, I only saw bits and pieces?"

"He tried a lot of things, he tried torture physically and mentally. . .he did some really creepy mind tricks but for some shitty reason I've lost half my memory of it all"

"Kurtis I-" Lara was cut off when the seatbelt signs showed up. And Eddie started calling over the intercom "lady Lara croft, countess of Abbingdon we are now going to land in the Le Bourget airport, please do not attempt any parachute jumps" Eddie always made jokes when landing and it made Lara smile somewhat. Kurtis sighed at the comment but said nothing.

The jet slowly descended at the runway, a slight bump made Lara grab hold of the seat as the wheels touched the gravel. Lara let kurtis rent them a car, of course she gave him her bank card to do so. She waited for him outside. In a matter of minutes a black SUV pulled up in front of her. She didn't want to draw too much attention to herself but obviously kurtis had different ideas. She climbed in and threw the bags onto the back seat.

"your best choice was a SUV, really kurtis what were you thinking?"

"You're paying so I thought I'd have some fun" Lara just rolled her eyes and gestured for him to drive.

"So you wanne go to a hotel?"

"we won't be staying that long, remember that café from back then?"

"Café Metro?" kurtis really had no idea what she wanted to do.

"Yeah café metro, I'd like to see how Pierre is getting along" Lara just made up an excuse, she wanted to let go of the memories but she wanted to revisit the place at least once more. Kurtis just shook his head and started the car. After a short drive he stopped next to the alley (Rue de Clef) where the entrance to The Serpent Rouge. Lara looked on as she saw a familiar woman, except she was a tad bit older. Lara got out of the car and kurtis soon followed.

Janice walked over to kurtis, "I do give special favors monsieur" Lara rolled her eyes and watched as kurtis narrowed his eyes on the woman.

"Move along Janice, his with me" as soon as Janice turned to Lara a certain memory filed her eyes. She took a step back and looked at Lara with astonished eyes.

"Oh the women from back then. You were looking for bouchard, did you find him?"

"Yeah thanks but I really wouldn't keep you from your job" Lara looked into the direction of a man, young with black hair and dull green eyes. He was waving a roll of money to Janice. She smiled, nodded a goodbye to Lara and kurtis and proceeded to her customer. Lara started to walk up the small stairs leading to the Parisian ghetto with kurtis following close behind. Lara stood in front of the closed doors of the café she first saw kurtis in. Newspaper covered the windows so that nothing inside was visible. Lara remembered the bike, parked near the entrance and the American sitting in the corner. Lara thought back to Amanda for some reason, her best friend yet enemy now. Lara remembered Amanda's face down in paraiso, she was afraid, no terrified. The water was rising and Lara couldn't hold onto the gate forever, what hurt the most is that she knew that. Amanda was stuck, feet under rubble and Lara was out of breath. When Lara surfaced she found Anaya, told her everything and they decided to leave, to leave the place that took almost all their friends. They thought of it as a memorial but what they left in the past came back to haunt Lara in the future. Lara felt an uneasiness, kurtis was trying to get into her head again.

"You couldn't have stopped it Lara"

"You're right I couldn't but nothing like that is ever happening again. . ." kurtis wasn't expecting Lara to admit it.

"wow no killer attitude comment? I'm amused" kurtis reassured her.

"you're going to be dead if you keep on thinking you're funny enough to be breathing"

"I don't think I'm funny, I'm hilarious"

"keep believing that" she walked past kurtis toward the car. He kept calling her name until they reached the car when she was resting her hands on the roof by the passenger seat. "Its still early, I'm bored so let's get to work. . .where'd you say the grail was?" she smiled mischievously.

"Get in the car" he sighed and got in himself. "Hold on" kurtis said loudly as he stepped hard on the gas.

A short while later they arrived at the foot of the Pyrenees. A thin layer of snow covered the tops. The weather wasn't cold but it wasn't warm either. Every time a breeze blew past them Lara would shiver ever so slightly. She was still wearing the same attire from where they left the manor. Kurtis and Lara both watched at the mountain in awe, it was so beautiful but secretive at the same time. "Well I'm not seeing anything interesting" Lara stated simply while getting a bag from the back of the car.

"Neither am I, you wanne get ready do it now I really would like to get this over with"

"Why do you think I got the bag out. . .keep looking at the mountain" kurtis understood what Lara meant and kept looking at the scene in front of him. He lit a cigarette and put it in his mouth. A few minutes later Lara joined at his side with her usual raiding clothes in cold climates. Only this time she was wearing a white long sleeved shirt with a thick black waistcoat and a long pair of black cargo pants tucked into her combat boots. Kurtis on the other hand had no other way to dress, he was always in the same types of clothes as when Lara first saw him. Lara was ready for anything, or so she thought.

"No smoking we have a job to do" Lara said while snatching the cigarette from his mouth, throwing it to the ground and crushing it under the sole of her shoes.

"yes mother, I left the exact coordinates with zip" Lara sighed and handed him an earpiece as well as inserting her own into her ear.

"Now you decide to tell me" Lara heard a sudden beep in her ear, signaling her that the earpiece was on.

"it looks like it" kurtis defended himself. He suddenly took a step back from the static over the earphone, followed by the beep also letting him know that they were in contact with the others.

"hey Lara, having fun? You're eager to find the grail or whatever it's called" zip's so charming way to let everyone know his there.

"In correct terms it's called the Holy Grail, but grail works too. Where's Alistair?" Lara and Alistair usually did riddles together. . .

"Hey Lara, is that the Pyrenees? It looks cold"

"Yes Alistair those are the Pyrenees, it is quite cool to tell the truth. . .are we alone zip?"

"wow gal if you want to kiss the guy go get a room" Lara sighed, then looked directly into kurtis's eyes

"okay okay, just trying to make you smile"

"silence from you will make me smile" Lara replied

"yes Lara you're alone, nothing in a five mile radius, but you may want to get moving" Alistair made himself heard

"thanks Einstein" kurtis eagerly demanded

"I'm going to pretend it was a compliment"

"whatever keeps you from crying" kurtis and Alistair were clearly not best of friends. But Alistair was a lover of peace so he left it at that.

"That's enough kurtis"

"Good now I know" kurtis crossed his arms in front of his chest

"Oh for goodness sakes you're worse than a two year old"

"a pretty handsome two year old don't you think?" he shot back

"no more than usual"

"yes of course there comes the adorable tomb raider"

"and the smartass demon hunter which I really will be shooting in the ass if he doesn't hurry up "

"hah a demon hunter, what does he hunt, deer that have psychological problems" Alistair half laugh half said over the headset

"Yeah if ya don't mind I was busy enjoying myself before this came up so can we get to the point" zip clearly still with his head in the clouds

"if you can keep up" Lara smiled at kurtis

"I took off with your painting in the Louvre remember " kurtis gave his signature smirk

"and got knocked out remember?" Lara Started walking toward the mountains "I'm guessing it's near the cittabel?" Lara asked

"On the contrary-" Alistair couldn't finish when zip started again,

"On the contrary it's at your marvelous location right now, just a bit of a climb" zip said mimicking Alistair's voice

"Oh very funny, the gear's in the suitcase Lara" Alistair reminded them

"I know that's why I forgot it at home" Lara and kurtis both smiled at the challenge then continued toward the mountain, ignoring zip and Alistair. It was a higher climb than Lara had first anticipated but the adrenaline had her wanting for it to be higher. They reached the cave, Lara was already examining the entrance when kurtis pulled himself up. Near the entrance was a symbol carved out in the rock, just a simple cross. Lara smiled victorious and gestured for kurtis to follow her. Kurtis sighed and followed, they walked for hours, seeing nothing but darkness. Kurtis suddenly bumped into a cave wall, zip and Alistair were laughing but Lara did not find it funny in any way. Lara knew this was the right place, it had that feeling of death, the smell of desertedness! Kurtis shook himself right, and to Lara's relief made the other two quiet.

"now what? There's nothing here?"

"Oh keep quiet will you, Lara's doing it again?" Alistair said

"Yeah but this time we see her from another angle its going to be awesome" zip added

Lara was busy examining the wall when she started talking, not even once looking up or taking her attention from the wall. "What are you two on about? I really am trying to concentrate"

"You're being a tomb raider, you're being you. . .it's really very amusing" zip complied

Lara smiled when she rubbed the wall with the tips of her fingers, the only parts not covered by the gloves. Lara drew the two fingers to her nose and exhaled. "Its magnesium, kurtis you got your lighter?"

"Try not to lose it, I only have the one with me and a guy needs his cigarette you know"

Lara rolled her eyes at his comment "no guarantees" but he had no choice when Lara snatched it from his hand. She took a few steps back, pulling kurtis with her. When a small red flame emerged from the tip of the lighter Lara threw it to the wall. A sudden symbol of a cross burnt on the wall but they were forced to shield their eyes as the flame got blindingly. Lara heard a meganism activate and from the clashing of metal behind the wall she knew what was going to happen next. Lara suddenly, in a manner of seconds, laid flat on her stomach as well as kurtis. When Lara went down she literally took kurtis down with her. Moments later two blades from both sides above them cut through the air, from the ceiling came another blade barely missing them, and that all at once. . . When Lara was certain it was safe they got up and walked into darkness through where the wall had just been. They were both in what looked to be a never-ending hall when the previous door suddenly closed.

"I really don't want to understand why you like this" kurtis rolled his eyes

"Well then don't because the good part hasn't even started" Lara smiled victoriously

"What's the so called good part"

"it's where the traps begin, and where she starts activating those that don't work oh and don't forget about the skeletons and things that come to life"

"This is going to be a long day" kurtis commented "but the skeletons sounds like fun"

Lara took two deep breaths, taking in the calm moment before she had to start using her unique skills. She smiled at kurtis and then started walking cautiously into the darkness with kurtis following close behind. The dark hall seemed to go on forever until they heard a sound, much like a thud from ahead. Beneath their feet the ground started to shake violently. They could see the outlines of the boulder coming their way, as expected both of them hugged the wall closest to them and the boulder rolled past them making a slight breeze as it went.

"That was way too close" zips voice broke the deadly silence

Lara gave a slight laugh and continued on with kurtis right beside her. She wasn't used to working with people, the only times she did was in Prague with kurtis, yes she sometimes had people watching over her but this was different. . .kurtis was here, in a tomb, in her territory with her, watching over her, and the best part is that he was able to keep up with her. Both of them stayed completely quiet in order to hear if or rather when they set of any type of trap. It was a good thing they did though, about twenty feet from where they were they were welcomed by a set of blades from both sides of the wall crossing over each other. Lara and kurtis both ducked under to avoid their necks being sliced of. Zip and Alistair were following their example by staying quiet and not saying a word. Suddenly Lara stepped past a torch on the wall and it, along with two other sprang to life with a flame dancing and shedding light to the visitors. It was welcoming to know that Lara's light wasn't the only one but by experience she knew when something, no matter what it is, ever sprang to life. . .something was about to happen. With no warning a stone door fell from the ceiling behind them, shutting them from the previous hall, and the floor began to descend into the wall. Lara and kurtis both started running forward jumping at the last bit in order to land on the hopefully stable part of the floor. Lara was about to catch her breath when the part of the floor on which they stood started doing the same. They started running again barely making it to the other side before the floor was completely gone, revealing what Lara expected, wooden spikes lined up in rows awaiting their next victim. Lara prayed that they would not have to go through that again, and they didn't have to except that the next thing awaiting them was a slope down into whatever was waiting for them. Both of them knew to expect the worst so they took a final look of assurance at each other and started sliding down into the unknown. There was a sound coming from beyond and as a habit they pulled out their weapons and held it in front of them


	8. finding the grail

**Hey there, thanks to everyone that added my story to their favourites, hugs to you all. this isnt my best chapter okay, i was out of ideas but i promise i will do better next time, just bare with me !**

**by the way i dont own any characters that featured in the tomb raider games **

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They stepped into a room with three cages, kurtis landed on a tile, a pressure pad of some sort. Two of the cages were empty but the third held a man. Both of them were confused and shared quizzical looks. The man was wearing a robe, hiding in the shadows. He stepped calmly out into the arena, it was almost the size of the arena kurtis fought Boaz in but here there were carvings and meganisms covering the walls. The man threw the robe to the floor then stood with no emotion toward Lara and kurtis. Suddenly his body started changing, he yelled in agony but after a few moments he was in the shape of a wolf, exactly the same as a normal wolf but it was bigger, much bigger.

"This is going to be fun" kurtis said smiling at the creature

"Guys you might want to hurry, there are quite a few trucks full of mercenaries outside and I don't think they're friendly" Alistair commented over the headset.

Lara, kurtis and the werewolf were circling each other when Lara replied "great. . .tell me when they're getting too close"

"Will do" zip said while typing like mad on the other side.

The wolf suddenly jumped for Lara, she dodged it with ease when kurtis fire a few bullets into its leg. It got up and circled once more "ain't a silver bullet suppose to kill it" kurtis asked at Lara while she examined the wall and keeping an eye on the wolf at the same time "now really isn't the time to rest" he told quickly.

"They're supposed to be killed by silver, pure silver and I'm not resting more like examining" the wolf gave a howl, it was loud and excruciating. . .both Lara and kurtis fell to their knees and clutched their ears. . .the wolf didn't attack immediately, instead it caught its breath and then charged at kurtis. His gun was out of reach so it quickly turned into a hands-on fight, not that he did bad. Unfortunately the wolf wasn't doing too bad either. Kurtis had quite a few claw marks running along his arm. Lara knew he could take care of himself and turned back to the wall. After she read the French in English in her head she knew what to do. She rushed toward the two golden wheels, it was some type of meganism and it covered almost the whole wall. She took a switch blade from her belt and scratched away at the gold. She could see the silver now. "Camouflage" she said quietly at herself when kurtis yelled to her.

"watch out!", Lara turned but it was too late the wolf was already on her, to no surprise it was bleeding badly and a big cut was visible over his left eye, no doubt the work of kurtis and his chirugai. Her head was almost completely against the wheel, she could feel some the cold steel with her scalp. She gathered all her strength and threw the beast off her and into the wheel. It crushed the wolf almost instantly, next a series of silver spikes pushed through its body. It was a gruesome picture but she had no other choice. Kurtis helped her to her feet and they continued on. A single staircase led up to a wooden door. "That's odd" Lara commented and started to once again cautiously proceed up. Lara and kurtis walked into a small room with a narrow hole in the corner and a switch to her left. Lara walked closer and threw a flare down into the hole, it was too deep to jump into, they were sure to break something, if not everything. Kurtis walked over to the switch, then looked at Lara.

"Shall I?" he asked trying to mimic a British accent.

"Be my guest" Lara said raising her hand in approval.

After the switch was pulled, they could see water rising in the hole until it reached the top. The flare that was previously thrown in was drifting above, so Lara kneeled down and picked it up, disposing of it. "Where are they zip?" Lara asked over the headset

"You should've seen them already"

"Maybe they took another path" Alistair added

"Yeah maybe but something isn't right, two of the cages were empty and now an army of mercenaries just disappear I don't like this at all" Lara said looking more at kurtis than she was talking to the others.

"I agree we should get moving so we could get to it before them" kurtis agreed reassuringly with Lara

"How did they know where it was?" Lara's finger tips brushed against her guns, kurtis noticed it and he did the same.

"Maybe a trap got the better of them" Alistair said anxiously

"I doubt that" with that kurtis and Lara were both pointing a gun at each other

"You think I led them here?" kurtis replied

"It's a possibility how else would they know?"

"They could've followed us" kurtis angrily said, why was she always doubting his trust

Lara knew he was right "did you tell them?" Lara asked as calm as she could manage

"I don't know I already told you that I don't remember the whole damn experience"

Lara was the first to lower her weapon, kurtis remained the same though with his gun pointed at Lara's head "go ahead pull the trigger I know you want to" Lara yelled

"you don't know anything, you don't know what you're doing, you don't know who Karel is and what he can do, you don't know its going to be fine, you don't know that were gonne be alive, you don't know what's waiting in the next room and you certainly know nothing about me and what I want to do, you trusted me in Prague, you trusted me ever since why are you still doubting me!" he screamed

"you're right but you don't know anything about me either so stop trying to pretend as if you do, you might know more than me but you can't remember, and you don't trust me either do you?"

"Yes I do, I would lay my life in your hands and trust that you know what to do, its you who don't trust"

"Do you blame me" Lara yelled with warm salty tears building up in her eyes but she swallowed them and regained control

"Lara. . ." kurtis dropped his weapon and stepped closer to Lara, "you can trust me" those were the only words she needed to hear. She knew it from the beginning but she needed to hear it, and not from anyone but from him. Zip and Alistair were both too shocked to say anything but it was better that way. Kurtis wanted to embrace Lara, just to reassure her it was okay but the next moment a explosion blew the wall to their right into pieces, dust was everywhere and both Lara and kurtis were thrown into the opposite wall with an extreme force. They were still conscious but it took a lot of strength just to regain their posture and stay upright. Lara and kurtis was immediately pressed back down on their knees and their weapons taken, all but one, kurtis's chirugai lay covered by rubble. They also removed the earpieces. They fought against the mercenaries holding them down. Kurtis broke free once but the other mercenary took it out on Lara, leaving a red handprint on her left cheek so he calmed down and surrendered, soon after being pushed down again. They both remained still and looked up at Gunderson, Karel on the other hand was nowhere to be seen.

"The master will be very pleased indeed" he said aloud

"I thought Eckhardt was you master?" Lara said trying to buy her and kurtis some time

"You thought wrong, there was no future with Eckhardt but Joachim has not failed yet. You can come with us willingly or forcibly" his face showing no emotion

"What do you want with us" Lara asked again, kurtis let her do the talking

"Not us miss croft only you"

"Go to hell" Lara yelled

"Let's not make this any harder than it already is"

"Yes let's not, either you let us go or we kick your ass into oblivion and you can tell the devil I said hi"

"So be it" he waved his hand to the mercenary holding down kurtis, he then took the butt of his rifle and knocked kurtis unconscious. Lara fought against the mercenary holding her down but instead another one came over and helped her to her feet then forcefully led her the way that Gunderson went. Gunderson awaited her in the hallway where there was no longer a wall between the hall and the previous room.

"You'll lead us to the grail now" he demanded

"What makes you think I'm going to do it"

"the only way out is that way" he pointed in the opposite direction of which he was standing "ill leave mister Trent alone for now but if you or he try anything out of the ordinary I will blow up the exit" Lara knew she and kurtis could get out of this, exit or no exit but she needed to give him time to regain consciousness.

"Try to keep up" Lara said with utter hatred, walking past Gunderson and the mercenaries toward the darkness. He ordered some of the mercenaries to follow but stayed close to Lara at all times. Lara stopped in her tracks when she saw scrape marks on the floor. One of the mercenaries stepped forward onto a pressure plate. "You moron" Lara yelled in frustration as the walls started closing in on them. Every one of them started running toward the door, about three or four mercenaries were crushed but there were still too much of them left for Lara to do anything. When they were in the middle of the next hall Lara crouched near the floor, obviously noticing the difference in the color of the floor. "Follow in my exact steps" Lara added when she began stepping on the tiles closest to the color of the tiles in the previous halls.

Kurtis's eyes suddenly shot open, he was in a dimly lit room. He remembered the argument between Lara and himself and suddenly everything became crystal clear. He had been unconscious for about twenty minutes now, where was Lara? Was she okay?. He jumped to his feet, then called the chirugai to him from under the rubble, then started looking for Lara. If she wasn't in there then she was with Gunderson no doubt, if he wanted to save her he was going to have to beat them to the grail. Gunderson wasn't someone who liked to get wet, but then again he would do anything to get what he wanted or rather what his so called master wanted. Kurtis wasn't much of a swimmer himself but his best option was the watery hole since there was no trace of Gunderson going that way. Who knows maybe he'll find the grail first, But that wasn't the most important thing for him, all he wanted was for Lara to be safe. He wouldn't let Gunderson touch her and if he did kurtis would make sure he suffered, he would want to be in hell after kurtis was through with him. Since the moment he first saw Lara in Paris he felt intrigued by her and now that they were working together again he cared for her, more than he did for himself, he would protect her no matter what, even if she didn't want protection. He put all thoughts away and focused intensely on the task ahead. He took a deep breath and dived head first into the hole, once in he had barely enough space to move in. With all his strength he used the uneven, rocky surface to pull himself forward. His lungs were burning as he swam without air, he needed to breath, quickly. In another room not too far ahead he broke through the water's surface. He was standing on a half circle with stairs ascending up. He shook his head a few times, 'if this is a trap I'm Gonne shoot myself'. He followed the stairs up, he entered a another hall and at the end it looked like a doorway and if he wasn't imagining things it was made of gold but then he heard it, the growl of something he'd rather not see again. He turned and looked into the eyes of yet another werewolf but this time he didn't have enough space to even think of fighting, but this hall was a whole lot narrower than the others. There wasn't even a meganism to kill it with. But this wolf looked different, a little smaller, as white as snow and eyes more blue than his own. The narrowed eyes of the wolf filled with hatred turned to those of remembrance. The creature tuned to its human form; or rather she turned to her human form. She had blonde hair that hung below her waist. She had pale skin but she was quite beautiful. She was also wearing a red elegant dress with a knife tied in a fitted bag, it hung on her waist. A tear slipped over her cheek as she stepped closer to kurtis, he lifted his gun to her and she halted for a second.

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**dont judge the werewolves okay, its possible i mean lara's faced giant spider/humans, dragons, statues, thralls, menitaurs, gods and freaking dinosaurs so werewolves are possible hehe just stating the obvious hehe (smile damnit :-) ) **


	9. unexpected surprises

**guys i'm extremely sorry for the very very very short chapter i just needed a little cliffhanger hehe. . .ENJOY!**

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"There's no need to worry" she said as she watched intently at his face

"Who are you?" it was almost as if she was staring through him rather than at him

"montsegur" she said, her voice not asking but not telling either

"What?" he asked astonished, he was sure she wasn't going to attack him so he lowered his weapon to his side

In a quick and sudden movement she embraced him in a hug, he didn't know what to so do he just stood there until she pulled away "I'm not who you think I am" he said

"I know, he's dead but he was part of your family, I can see it in your eyes, everything about you, you look a lot alike. . .I will not hurt you, what is your name?" she calmly replied

"Kurtis, you?"

"Silencia I loved montsegur. . .you're here for the dagger aren't you?" kurtis was going crazy inside, what was she talking about?

"Actually I'm looking for the grail. . What dagger?"

"the dagger, the dagger of light, I know nothing of its purpose but I know he would have done all in his power to keep it safe, and so must you and I will take you to the grail's location as well"

Kurtis took the dagger she held out to him, it looked almost like the periapt shards but it was different, the markings were from the ancients older than the ancients who created the periapt shard but something else, he couldn't explain it but it was different, he could feel it "thanks" was all he could manage to say. Silencia started walking off to the room ahead and kurtis, cautiously followed after her.

"Shit" was all Lara could mutter, she was out of breath. She had already led Gunderson and his men through the previous hall and into another room with a meganism and of course a werewolf. Why are these things trying so hard to protect the place, it held more than the grail she was sure of it. Lara and the others have been trying for the past fifteen minutes to kill the damn thing, this one was stronger than the previous one and a hell of a lot bigger. Lara had tried numerous times to throw it into the meganism but nothing was working. She had almost lost her hand but pulled away just in time. Few of the mercenaries have died, the gunfire kept the creature at a distance but it still didn't kill it. In a corner something caught her eye for the first time. It was a skeleton, but that wasn't what caught her eye it was the sword laying beside him that did. Not only did Gunderson notice what she was looking at, the wolf did to. Lara looked once at the wolf and then to the sword 'it's now or never' she thought and started running toward the sword, the wolf following not far behind. She was going to be dinner if she didn't take it fast, she slid on her side on the floor until she had the sword in her hand then quickly while sliding turned herself and swung at the creatures neck, as expected its head fell next to her when she crashed into the wall. She looked at the sword in her hand and immediately recognized the symbol. She threw the sword aside and joined Gunderson at the door at the end of the chamber.

"What if another one comes along, get the sword" he ordered

"I'll improvise don't worry"

They, meaning Lara, Gunderson and his gang of mercenaries stepped into a hall, a very narrow wall. Lara saw an opening to the left but the door at the end of the hall, made of gold was what caught her attention. When she entered the large chamber she saw a newly made mark on one of the pillars also surrounding the room, the room was circular. She knew kurtis was already here, on the pillar he wrote _KT_ and she knew he was looking out for her. She noticed the altar in the middle of the room with a cup atop, a golden cup with rubies covering the surface. It sparkled as sunlight shone on it from the cracks in the ceiling. Gunderson demanded for one of the mercenaries to go get it, he was resistant at first but doing things like this usually came with the territory. Lara knew the cup was a fake but she wasn't going to tell him that. The mercenary slowly approached the cup, then slowly, almost in slow motion reached forward. Four beams of light shot out to the pillar, cutting through the mercenary from all sides. Lara put her arm in front of her eyes to shield her from the terrible light originating from the beams. The mercenary was vaporized. Lara was expecting a trap, but what happened just shocked her. Gunderson walked strictly over to her watching her with hatred filling his eyes.

"I'm losing my patience miss croft, where to next?"

"Mind letting me find out" she said walking past him and to the altar. Lara looked up and saw a small silver pendant, almost in the shape of a diamond at the top of the ceiling, then she crouched near the altar reading the inscription "let the light show the way" she translated aloud then smiled. Lara walked back toward Gunderson, stopping a mere three feet from him.

"You want the grail, ill need a gun preferably a rifle" Lara said still looking at him with hatred

"You're outnumbered, don't try anything funny" Lara wasn't going to try anything, well not yet.

"I heard it the first time" she took the rifle that one of the mercenaries handed her and proceeded back to the altar. She took a deep breath, then let the tip of the rifle touch the cup. She immediately fell to the floor with her hands on her head, letting the beams shoot on the cup instead of her. From the points where the beams made contact with the cup, they shot up into the pendant and then toward four other pendants on the tops of the pillars, from there to the bottom of the pillars and with the help of another pendant the beams shot back to the altar. The inscription she read earlier burst into white and another door revealed itself at the other wall. The beams got more intense and the cup burst into a million pieces, with the cup being gone, the door slowly descended and Lara, Gunderson and most of the mercenaries ran to make it through before time ran out.

Silencia walked straight past the cup toward the wall on the other side, she changed shape once more to her wolf form and gave a shrieking howl, also making kurtis cover his ears. When she was in human form again a door rose up from the floor and Silencia entered awaiting kurtis to follow.

"Hold on there's something I got to do quickly" kurtis walked over to the pillar, unclipped the chirugai and wrote his initials on the pillar. Letting Lara know he was there. Silencia waved to him with her hand as he followed, he eventually stood in the next room with her when she fell to her knees.

"What's wrong?" kurtis asked helping her from the floor

"Its gathadrian, he's dead" kurtis immediately remembered the two empty cages but just continued through the hall in awe. Along the hall were glowing white intricate patterns. A small walk and he was standing in a room with an empty altar, it was an exact replica of the previous room but this one was bigger with a lot more pillars, a perfect place to have an ambush.

"where's the grail?" he asked as soon as he realized it was taken

"I told you id take you to the location. A long time ago, the cages we were kept in didn't open and men came. . .we couldn't do anything to stop them and they, they took the grail. Montsegur promised that he would find it and bring it back but he never did, it was the last time I ever saw him." He could see the pain in her eyes

"I have a friend coming this way, she's being held against her will-"

"you want to ambush them and get back your friend" she finished his sentence

kurtis was about to say something when she fell to the floor once again, she screamed in agony and laid on her side, holding her head. She muttered something about a cup being destroyed between the screams, kurtis realized what she meant but she fell unconscious. He heard Gunderson's voice from the hall they had came from, in a desperate attempt to hide he pulled Silencia behind a heap of ruble and ran behind a pillar, holding his chirugai ready to attack. From his hiding place he saw Lara being pushed forward by Gunderson and his men, 'I'm right here Lara' kurtis whispered to her telepathically. She nodded in confirmation 'give me a minute before you do anything' he trusted that she knew what she was doing. Lara slowly made her way to a mercenary while Gunderson slammed his fists into the altar and swearing on about the grail not being there. She watched as he neared her but also took slow steps back toward another mercenary.

"This is not acceptable" he yelled and backhanded her through the face.

"You're a sore loser, perhaps it got moved" he backhanded her again and she stumbled a few steps back. She swiftly turned, punching the mercenary in the face and kicking him backwards while grabbing the rifle from his hands. The rest started firing at her but she quickly dodged behind a pillar 'now!' she yelled in her head to kurtis and as expected the chirugai, along with its familiar orange glow flew through the air, cutting at any mercenary standing. Lara also got out from behind the pillar and started shooting at the mercenaries, each and everyone fell dead to the ground, all but one. Lara walked over to Gunderson but was thrown backwards by something with lightning speed. Lara regained her footing and pointed at the creature, the same creature that helped her in Prague "you!" she screamed in frustration.


	10. answers only lead to more questions

**i really do forget to say this the whole time but any and all characters in the whole story that feature in the games as well as movies are not mine!**

**by the way im really busy with school and all so its been uphill for me the last few months and since my computer is in for repairs i need to borrow my friend's, let me tell you her internet is a real asshole hehehe but please enjoy and i apologise if there is any grammer or spelling mistakes i had to do it in a hurry-enjoy and thank you so very much for the reviews they make me really really really really happy...**

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"There's no need to worry" she said as she watched intently at his face

"Who are you?" it was almost as if she was staring through him rather than at him

"montsegur" she said, her voice not asking but not telling either

"What?" he asked astonished, he was sure she wasn't going to attack him so he lowered his weapon to his side

In a quick and sudden movement she embraced him in a hug, he didn't know what to so do he just stood there until she pulled away "I'm not who you think I am" he said

"I know, he's dead but he was part of your family, I can see it in your eyes, everything about you, you look a lot alike. . .I will not hurt you, what is your name?" she calmly replied

"Kurtis, you?"

"Silencia I loved montsegur. . .you're here for the dagger aren't you?" kurtis was going crazy inside, what was she talking about?

"Actually I'm looking for the grail. . What dagger?"

"the dagger, the dagger of light, I know nothing of its purpose but I know he would have done all in his power to keep it safe, and so must you and I will take you to the grail's location as well"

Kurtis took the dagger she held out to him, it looked almost like the periapt shards but it was different, the markings were from the ancients older than the ancients who created the periapt shard but something else, he couldn't explain it but it was different, he could feel it "thanks" was all he could manage to say. Silencia started walking off to the room ahead and kurtis, cautiously followed after her.

"Shit" was all Lara could mutter, she was out of breath. She had already led Gunderson and his men through the previous hall and into another room with a meganism and of course a werewolf. Why are these things trying so hard to protect the place, it held more than the grail she was sure of it. Lara and the others have been trying for the past fifteen minutes to kill the damn thing, this one was stronger than the previous one and a hell of a lot bigger. Lara had tried numerous times to throw it into the meganism but nothing was working. She had almost lost her hand but pulled away just in time. Few of the mercenaries have died, the gunfire kept the creature at a distance but it still didn't kill it. In a corner something caught her eye for the first time. It was a skeleton, but that wasn't what caught her eye it was the sword laying beside him that did. Not only did Gunderson notice what she was looking at, the wolf did to. Lara looked once at the wolf and then to the sword 'it's now or never' she thought and started running toward the sword, the wolf following not far behind. She was going to be dinner if she didn't take it fast, she slid on her side on the floor until she had the sword in her hand then quickly while sliding turned herself and swung at the creatures neck, as expected its head fell next to her when she crashed into the wall. She looked at the sword in her hand and immediately recognized the symbol. She threw the sword aside and joined Gunderson at the door at the end of the chamber.

"What if another one comes along, get the sword" he ordered

"I'll improvise don't worry"

They, meaning Lara, Gunderson and his gang of mercenaries stepped into a hall, a very narrow wall. Lara saw an opening to the left but the door at the end of the hall, made of gold was what caught her attention. When she entered the large chamber she saw a newly made mark on one of the pillars also surrounding the room, the room was circular. She knew kurtis was already here, on the pillar he wrote _KT_ and she knew he was looking out for her. She noticed the altar in the middle of the room with a cup atop, a golden cup with rubies covering the surface. It sparkled as sunlight shone on it from the cracks in the ceiling. Gunderson demanded for one of the mercenaries to go get it, he was resistant at first but doing things like this usually came with the territory. Lara knew the cup was a fake but she wasn't going to tell him that. The mercenary slowly approached the cup, then slowly, almost in slow motion reached forward. Four beams of light shot out to the pillar, cutting through the mercenary from all sides. Lara put her arm in front of her eyes to shield her from the terrible light originating from the beams. The mercenary was vaporized. Lara was expecting a trap, but what happened just shocked her. Gunderson walked strictly over to her watching her with hatred filling his eyes.

"I'm losing my patience miss croft, where to next?"

"Mind letting me find out" she said walking past him and to the altar. Lara looked up and saw a small silver pendant, almost in the shape of a diamond at the top of the ceiling, then she crouched near the altar reading the inscription "let the light show the way" she translated aloud then smiled. Lara walked back toward Gunderson, stopping a mere three feet from him.

"You want the grail, ill need a gun preferably a rifle" Lara said still looking at him with hatred

"You're outnumbered, don't try anything funny" Lara wasn't going to try anything, well not yet.

"I heard it the first time" she took the rifle that one of the mercenaries handed her and proceeded back to the altar. She took a deep breath, then let the tip of the rifle touch the cup. She immediately fell to the floor with her hands on her head, letting the beams shoot on the cup instead of her. From the points where the beams made contact with the cup, they shot up into the pendant and then toward four other pendants on the tops of the pillars, from there to the bottom of the pillars and with the help of another pendant the beams shot back to the altar. The inscription she read earlier burst into white and another door revealed itself at the other wall. The beams got more intense and the cup burst into a million pieces, with the cup being gone, the door slowly descended and Lara, Gunderson and most of the mercenaries ran to make it through before time ran out.

Silencia walked straight past the cup toward the wall on the other side, she changed shape once more to her wolf form and gave a shrieking howl, also making kurtis cover his ears. When she was in human form again a door rose up from the floor and Silencia entered awaiting kurtis to follow.

"Hold on there's something I got to do quickly" kurtis walked over to the pillar, unclipped the chirugai and wrote his initials on the pillar. Letting Lara know he was there. Silencia waved to him with her hand as he followed, he eventually stood in the next room with her when she fell to her knees.

"What's wrong?" kurtis asked helping her from the floor

"Its gathadrian, he's dead" kurtis immediately remembered the two empty cages but just continued through the hall in awe. Along the hall were glowing white intricate patterns. A small walk and he was standing in a room with an empty altar, it was an exact replica of the previous room but this one was bigger with a lot more pillars, a perfect place to have an ambush.

"where's the grail?" he asked as soon as he realized it was taken

"I told you id take you to the location. A long time ago, the cages we were kept in didn't open and men came. . .we couldn't do anything to stop them and they, they took the grail. Montsegur promised that he would find it and bring it back but he never did, it was the last time I ever saw him." He could see the pain in her eyes

"I have a friend coming this way, she's being held against her will-"

"you want to ambush them and get back your friend" she finished his sentence

kurtis was about to say something when she fell to the floor once again, she screamed in agony and laid on her side, holding her head. She muttered something about a cup being destroyed between the screams, kurtis realized what she meant but she fell unconscious. He heard Gunderson's voice from the hall they had came from, in a desperate attempt to hide he pulled Silencia behind a heap of ruble and ran behind a pillar, holding his chirugai ready to attack. From his hiding place he saw Lara being pushed forward by Gunderson and his men, 'I'm right here Lara' kurtis whispered to her telepathically. She nodded in confirmation 'give me a minute before you do anything' he trusted that she knew what she was doing. Lara slowly made her way to a mercenary while Gunderson slammed his fists into the altar and swearing on about the grail not being there. She watched as he neared her but also took slow steps back toward another mercenary.

"This is not acceptable" he yelled and backhanded her through the face.

"You're a sore loser, perhaps it got moved" he backhanded her again and she stumbled a few steps back. She swiftly turned, punching the mercenary in the face and kicking him backwards while grabbing the rifle from his hands. The rest started firing at her but she quickly dodged behind a pillar 'now!' she yelled in her head to kurtis and as expected the chirugai, along with its familiar orange glow flew through the air, cutting at any mercenary standing. Lara also got out from behind the pillar and started shooting at the mercenaries, each and everyone fell dead to the ground, all but one. Lara walked over to Gunderson but was thrown backwards by something with lightning speed. Lara regained her footing and pointed at the creature, the same creature that helped her in Prague "you!" she screamed in frustration.

"I thought you were helping me" she yelled to the creature as it took a fighting stance

"I said I need not follow the masters orders if there are none, now I am ordered to retrieve the grail at any means necessary and if anyone gets in way I must eliminate" Lara watched as the creature rushed toward kurtis toward kurtis but its hand was stopped by Silencia. Lara was extremely confused but kept her pose, kurtis backed away a bit as Silencia and the creature broke out in a fight.

"go leave now" she yelled to them, Lara and kurtis both shared quizzical looks until Silencia changed into her other form, threw the creature aside and howled once more. The door ascended and stared descending once more "now!" she yelled again when in human form. Both Lara and kurtis ran barely rolling under the door as they went. The creature shoved its claws through silencia's heart "forever and always my montsegur" she whispered then fell limply to the floor.

Kurtis and Lara was standing at the wall that Gunderson first blew up, they both rushed toward the door, hugging the wall and peering outside. Six mercenaries awaited the return of their leader. Lara smiled at kurtis and they both shot at the mercenaries until each and everyone fell. Kurtis had grabbed his boran x back in the chamber where the grail was supposed to be, and Lara still had a rifle with her. They took two of the bikes standing around and drove to the spot where their SUV was still parked. Lara got into the driver's seat this time, and kurtis into the passenger seat. Lara took the phone from her backpack and dialed zip's number, putting it on speaker as soon as they answered.

"Lara! Lara! Are you okay? Is kurtis dead? What happened?" Alistair yelled in a worrisome manner

"Yes Alistair were fine and kurtis didn't die"

"Bloody hell, so he has to come back here?" Alistair sighed

"Guess so buddy, get us a plane back will you?" kurtis shot back

"Will a chopper do?" zip asked

"It would be just fine , send it to our current location" Lara dialed a contact she had in Paris and asked him to take the rented car back. After a while the helicopter was flying above them. Kurtis grabbed hold of the ladder that was thrown down for them, when on top he helped Lara up and they closed the door, taking a seat next to each other. Lara suddenly began to laugh in relief, kurtis watched her as she grinned on in between laughing.

"I haven't heard the joke yet, mind telling me" kurtis asked

"That was the most fun I've had in a long time"

"You're different"

"Different?" she asked once done laughing

"Any other person would have gone to a psychologist about this but you, you just laugh" he smiled a bit at the thought

Lara was happy that they weren't fighting any more, and she was happy that they were both alive and kicking. On the way to the manor kurtis told her about Silencia and all that she said, including the dagger. Lara had taken the dagger and examined it but returned it to kurtis, thinking that it was just another periapt shard. At the beginning they thought that this trip was going to answer at least some of their questions, but it just opened a whole lot of new and to no surprise unanswered questions. The grass on the croft's estate swirled in patterns as the chopper prepared to land. Alistair and zip were already waiting outside, covering their eyes from the wind. Lara was the first one out and joined her comrades near the front door. Kurtis was slowly getting out of the chopper, clearly taking his time. Lara shook her head in disbelief and she retired inside the manor. Winston was waiting for her with a few beverages on a silver tray.

"You must be exhausted lady croft, your rooms have been readied and dinner will be done soon" he smiled a true and honest smile to her.

"Thank you Winston it is much appreciated" Lara then went to zip and Alistair in the tech room, kurtis also joined them and they discussed everything that happened in Paris. Alistair was going to find out where the grail was, where the dagger came from and about the dagger Lara saw in her dream, the one Karel stabbed kurtis with. Zip on the other hand was going to track down Karel and make sure the security system was to the best that it can be. Lara was about to leave when she remembered the sword and the symbol from when she killed the werewolf.

"The shield, the shield of course it is absolutely brilliant" Lara said aloud

"What shield?" Alistair asked

"What are you talking about Lara?" kurtis asked after Alistair

"I knew she'd figure it out sometime today, she always does" both Alistair and kurtis turned to zip as he said it while Lara just kept pacing about the room

"Remember Kazakhstan" Lara asked

"What's Excalibur have to do with the grail, other than Arthur and his grail quests"

"Oh come on Alistair I thought you of all people would understand, remember the shield, I found a sword with the same symbol. Some of the graves were empty, I think Arthur's knights went ahead and searched for grail it was after all one of their goals. But why didn't they ever return? Alistair find out"

"Will do" he said adjusting his glasses and retiring to the study

Zip just shrugged and put on his earphones, falling asleep with them in the tech room was one of his trademarks. Kurtis's room was just down the hall of Lara's. They walked up together stopping briefly at kurtis's door.

"Goodnight kurtis sleep well"

She was about to walk away when he started talking "night Lara" he closed the door, he wanted to tell her about the dagger Silencia gave him and what she told him, to be honest it was eating at his mind but he just thought that it didn't have anything to do with the grail so he kept it to himself, until he could find out what it's use is.

Lara smiled and walked to her own room, she took a quick shower, brushed her teeth and did all the necessary things. She was wearing comfortable pajamas, it wasn't cold but the bedding wasn't too warm either. She got underneath the coverings and let her hand slip under the pillow to make sure that her 9mm was there if she would ever need it. Minutes later her eyes closed and she drifted off for peaceful sleep, or so she thought. She was running through a maze of white walls, but all around there was black, she was walking on black, not even sure if there was a floor. Above her was black, all that broke it was the white walls. Lara heard her mother's voice calling, the sweet voice of her mother as she remembered from memories. How her mother read her stories before she went to bed, the fun they had when Lara was a young child. After an eternity of running she reached the middle. A drop of sweat dripped from her forehead, as did more by the minute, she was out of breath and out of hope. Her mother's beautiful form stood there, the mother she had before the crash. Lara smiled at the image, her mother approached her, embracing her daughter like never before. Lara's back suddenly started to burn, it felt as if someone was throwing her in a fire. She suddenly pushed her mother away, seeing the exposed flesh on her body, her mother had turned into a thrall again. Lara had no tears to shed instead she shook her head and started running from whence she came. She forced herself to look forward, to never look back. She sat straight up in her bed, sweat dripping like she just came out of a shower. In the corner stood a figure of a man, the man she thought was dead killed, the man who she left behind. Werner was standing there, his eyes glowing red and his walking stick in his left hand. He gave an evil chuckle then grinned at Lara. She grabbed her gun and fired at him, soon enough the door bashed open and kurtis stood with his own gun aiming where Lara was aiming, nothing was there so he lowered his weapon. From the corner of his eye he saw Winston, zip and Alistair watching them. He turned, making a silent conversation with his eyes. They all left silently knowing he was the person to talk to her and not them. And to be honest they didn't want to mess with him. Kurtis turned back to face Lara, she had pulled her legs up so her knees were close enough to rest her head on and her arms wrapped around them. Kurtis walked over to her and took the gun that she was still holding in her hand. She startled a bit as he took it, he already checked in her subconscious what had happened. Why was Karel making her suffer and not him?

"Some mind trick" Lara tried blocking her worry out

"He does that, you know, focus on your biggest fears" kurtis told

"Why am I getting the dreams and not you?" she asked innocently not even looking up once

"I don't know he's crazy who know what's going on in his sadistic mind"

"You okay?" he asked soon after

"as good as can be expected" he stood up, ready to leave and go back to his own room "don't leave" she whispered he knew what Karel was capable of and he certainly did not want to be alone either, for the first time she had looked up, pleading with her eyes that he must stay.

He neared the opposite side of the bed, climbing on top of the covers, tucking his bare arms behind his neck and closing his eyes, Lara rolled on her side holding both her hands under her head and closing her eyes whispering one final time "thank you".

"no prob, it's a pleasure" kurtis said back. Lara fell asleep quite easily, as did kurtis. Lara woke early the next morning, when she was getting out of bed kurtis opened one eye, still in the same position as the night before, he closed it again soon after. Lara took her usual morning shower, instead of getting dressed in the closet she took her clothes with her to the bathroom. When she came out, kurtis also had spare clothes in his hands.

"Mind if I use your bathroom?" he asked smirking at her

"Not at all go ahead, just clean up when you're done"

Lara exited the bedroom, down the hall and past the stairs straight to the study. Upon opening the door she found Alistair asleep on a book, she smiled at the sight and quietly closed the door. She did have all day to find out after all. She felt quite happy this morning, on her way down the stairs she bumped into Winston.

"Morning my lady I hope you feel better"

"Tons Winston thank you, could you please take my usual weaponry to target practice, the necessary equipment to the pool and a bottle of water to the gym along with a towel"

"Will that be all?"

"Yes" Lara answered a smile creeping at the corners of her mouth "oh and take a cup of tea for Alistair, he's asleep. . .in the study"

"Will do lady croft have a lovely day" Lara smiled running down the stairs toward the tech room where zip was also still asleep at the computer with the earphones.

Lara stood in front of the computer monitor and rearranged the volume so to speak, in an instant zip sat up, looking at Lara with sleepy eyes "living with you is near impossible"

"Oh come on zip its not that bad" she answered back

"What's got you so hyper today?" to be honest not even Lara knew but she had a feeling that today was going to be a good day

"No idea, anything useful for me?"

"Not much I haven't got anything it's like his doesn't even exist"

"Its okay zip just keep trying" he didn't actually have time to comply as she sprinted down the hall toward the swimming pool. She saw Winston leaving to the garden, probably to get everything done she had asked for. As promised there was a swimsuit waiting for her on one of the chairs and a towel as well. She had timed herself to take up two hours at the pool, at least four in the gym and another two at the shooting range. She got dressed and started pulling at the fish statues placed all around the pool. After a bit of climbing and swinging she made it to the diving board, she took a relaxing breath, then without warning she started running forward, moving in the air to form a swan dive. She spent the promised two hours at the pool, next she opened the underwater passage leading to the gym. Once in the tunnel she felt the small space close in on her but she paid no attention and kept swimming on. After a little while she surfaced at the small pool in the indoor gym. On a chair in the corner Winston had put the gym clothes along with the towel. She dried off and changed in the changing room that was built in when the manor was being repaired. She had a close family friend do it, she didn't trust anyone else with it, she knew of the secret passages and wanted them built in. Jacob was a close friend of her father, he originally built the manor and she wanted the manor exactly the same. Unfortunately Jacob had a heart attack not too long ago. Lara had spent her four hours in the gym, constantly wondering what had happened to kurtis. Lara was done with the gym, most people would be exhausted after a gym session of hers but she was used to it, according to her she never wanted to stop. In the past four hours she had been to every inch of the gym, from top to bottom. Unfortunately there was still no sign of kurtis. Lara decided to go to the shooting range next, fortunately kurtis was also there. Half of the card board figure was blown away, as usual he had a cigarette in his mouth. Lara got her guns out as well, ready to fire.

"How long have you been shooting" she asked.

He pointed toward a heap of cardboard to his left, "long enough" he smiled at her and then continued shooting

"Good" Lara said shooting the other half of his target into oblivion, then taking a hold of semi-automatic pistols and starting to shoot at her own target. They were out there for longer than an hour when Lara remembered something with a sudden shock. She dropped her guns, the thud of the guns falling to the gravel made kurtis realize Lara was running back to the manor. He threw the cigarette to the ground, then stamping it dead with his foot. He returned his gun to its shoulder holster and followed after Lara. She grabbed her backpack from the day before and threw the contents on a nearby coffee table, she sat at her knees, looking closer for the picture. The picture was gone, that could only mean that it's still in Paris, in the tomb.


	11. where the hell is it?

**hey sorry for the very very very late update but i had some pc problems i hope you enjoy and also the next chapter will be up within the next week i just have to check for grammer mistakes and yeah so enjoy and i hope your eyes become square from staring at the compuet screen mwuahahahah**

* * *

_The previous day in Paris_

Gunderson cursed the woman for locking him in here. Now her corpse lay in a heap near the empty altar. The croft woman along with Trent escaped, forget the master being pleased, he was going to be furious when he heard of the news. The only good thing was that the creature he brought with him, even though it helped the croft woman, it had strength, no more than Karel but he was strong enough to get rid of the concrete blocking their way. Why that wretched woman always slipped through his hands, it infuriated him greatly but even more the master. He should've killed her when he had the chance but then again the master wouldn't approve of it, he had plans for the croft woman, plans that no one but the master knew of, plans according to the master beyond anyone's understanding. Why did the master have such hatred toward humans? He used them, so why couldn't he bear them. Gunderson demanded the creature to rid them of the obstacle before him, so the creature did, by sending an orb of green energy into the door. The door broke into pieces, rubble flying everywhere and dust covering the air. Just outside the door Gunderson crouched near a few tiny shards of glass and in the corner laid a photo frame, croft must've dropped it on her way out. He took a closer look by pulling the photo from the frame and as his eyes narrowed to see more clearly, he saw the sketch of a young girl. This was certainly going to be useful. Gunderson walked forward in a military stance, as they reached the cool night breeze outside Gunderson took the keys to a van from one of the dead mercenaries and drove toward an abandoned warehouse. Later that evening he stood before Karel. His one knee was resting on the ground while the other one was parallel with his shoulders, his head hung low until Karel had accepted his apology.

"Speak what you must" Karel's voice echoed throughout the office Karel now had

"We have lost the lady croft and the male unfortunately the grail was lost to begin with"

"Explain yourself Gunderson"

"I know just that the grail was not there but I have no doubt that miss croft will lead us right to it"

"Don't stop them this time, wait for them and then take it if they do not have it then I will be waiting, understood"

"I will do as you ask master"

"You'd better not fail me again Gunderson"

"I will not, that I oath" Gunderson was fearful of Karel but he never showed it

"Leave now" Karel waved his hand in dismissal and walked toward the desk

"But sir with all do respect, would it not be best to go to the women's home and dispose of them"

"Under no circumstance, I need her alive and we need them to do the hard work. . .we've lost too many men already"

"As you wish Joachim" Gunderson turned and left through the door. He had decided to keep the news about the photo to himself and do his own interrogation He did not understand the master's requests, why let a liability like croft and Trent walk and strive to ruin their plans. But he was not to question the master, especially not about his motives, that could be the end of Gunderson.

* * *

"Bloody hell" Lara said in frustration seating herself on the ground next to the coffee table. Kurtis joined her when he finally caught his breath. He'd fight the devil himself for Lara, he would run to the end of the earth, in summary he would do anything for her. He wanted to kick himself for saying it, but could it be true, could he, kurtis Trent, be falling in love? He wasn't even going to think about it, Lara was right feelings are a liability, they get you killed. It saddened him somehow.

"I lost it, I lost the sketch. . .damnit"

"Don't be too hard on yourself, things happen, well get it back"

"its not about getting it back, its about what its meant for, he left it for me and my father rarely leaves me something that's exactly what it seems" Lara calmly said

"Maybe this time it is maybe it's another clue. . .you'll figure it out I'm sure of it" he smiled reassuringly

"Lunch is ready my lady" Winston repeated behind him, zip was already on his way to the kitchen but Alistair on the other hand, he was probably still in the study.

"Is Alistair still in the study?" Lara started standing up and dusting herself off

"Yes I shall call him quickly" Winston was turning when Lara stopped him.

"No leave him, I'll take some food up and then I can finally hear if he found anything" Winston accepted the orders and also proceeded to the kitchen. Winston was already on his way back to the tech room when Lara and kurtis entered. Winton on the other hand was already elsewhere in the manor. Same old Winston, he knew Lara love'd lasagna, and that is what he made almost every day. Lara smiled at the thought while she and kurtis both dished up. Lara, instead of just one plate, took two and slowly made her way to the study. The door opened easily, Alistair was reading through various journals when he looked up to see Lara. Lara put the plate with lasagna in front of him, then taking a seat opposite him, placing her own plate on the desk.

"Find anything?" Lara asked and Alistair's half smile immediately disappeared.

"No, sorry" he replied shaking his head and taking the knife and fork in his hand

"Its fine just keep trying" he nodded and they sat eating in quiet.

_One week later_

"Its hopeless kurtis" Lara declared on the balcony overlooking the grounds

"You shouldn't give up hope so soon"

"Why not, it's been an entire week and still we have no leads" Lara was getting impatient of the lack of information

"I know but well find something, we always do" he reassured her even though in his own head he was struggling to stay positive, struggling to keep hope.

In the past week Lara and kurtis have become closer. Yet not close enough for them to trust each other with their past. Kurtis had started owning a sofa in Lara's room, always sleeping there or downstairs with zip in front of the computer or the TV and rarely in his own room. Kurtis and Alistair have also become friends, still snapping at each other every once in a while. Lara's feelings for kurtis have grown stronger, the more she tried pushing them aside, the more they grew intense. She never felt love but she just knew, she was falling in love with kurtis. Kurtis tried avoiding Lara but he couldn't, he was falling for her and he was falling hard. When this was over he wouldn't want to leave he was in love with Lara, he was prepared to do anything for her, he would give his life for hers. Lara was also prepared to do anything for kurtis. Kurtis had learnt to respect Lara's privacy and stopped listening to her thoughts. Suddenly Alistair stood behind them, breaking them from their thoughts and waving his hand for them to follow. They did as he asked and when they came downstairs smiles crept on both their faces. Zip had a map on one of the screens and Alistair waved a journal in the air.

"where to next?" Lara asked excitedly

"England" zip said not lifting his face from the screen to look at Lara

"lovely"

"Yeah lovely, another tomb how good to know. Haven't they ever heard of a safe hidden behind a portrait, why bring in darts and flames and who knows what else is in there" kurtis also added before Alistair joined in the conversation

"Sorry chap but they were a tad bit overprotective over their possessions"

"No shit" he loved doing what he did but tombs never interested him much, but with Lara there, it made everything different.

"Remember Excalibur, when you thought that the real tomb was nearby well you were right. It was under my nose all this time, in one of the journals I found on Excalibur. Apparently the knights had the real king Arthur buried elsewhere, elsewhere meaning another cover up, I'll give you one guess"

"Its either big Ben or Buckingham palace" Alistair was astonished that she was so quickly, so correct about it.

"Obviously, but not so precise, its close to Buckingham palace, zip has the coordinates"

"Zip?" Lara asked

"Already in the GPS"

Zip was truly strange this morning, perhaps just a bad day Lara thought "right well be on our way then"

Kurtis had already taken his gun and a lot of extra ammunition, Lara grabbed hers on the way out. Both of them got on the bikes, finally kurtis could take his own. Lara was in her usual raiding clothes, ready for anything. She was looking forward to the tomb but perhaps she was just trying to block out the fear, she was afraid of Karel, the dreams, the fact that he could be anyone and she probably wouldn't know of it, and then of course he was taunting her, taunting her with ghosts of her past. She had little but she did have a conscience other than Karel, he had nothing, he killed and mutilated people, he tried to enslave the human race by bringing back the nephilim and he's still trying. It's as if it's impossible to kill him. Still, Lara wasn't going to let anyone know what she felt, not even kurtis, she was going to be the hardcore tomb raider that she was. Before she knew it, they pulled up to a large oak tree near the woods.

"This is Gonne be fun" kurtis commented once of the bike. Lara joined him, overlooking the oak tree, the exact coordinates were the oak tree.

"it's going to be interesting" Lara started walking around the oak tree. On the bottom there were initials carved out, _ST-SK-SL-SG-SP-SG-SB-SG-SG-SG-SL-SG-SB-SB-SA-SS A.P L.M_

Lara inserted her earpiece and kurtis did the same. "We've got it" Lara declared

"Good for you now get the grail" zip said almost in a harsh voice

"What's up, you're never this irritated?" kurtis asked

"Nothing I just didn't sleep very well" he replied dryly

"if you say so" Lara said, pausing for a second and then continuing "Sir trystan, sir Kay, sir Lancelot, sir Gawain, sir Percival, sir Galahad, sir bors, sir Geraint, sir Gareth, sir lamorak, sir gaheris, sir bedivere, sir agravaine, sir sagramore, Arthur pendragon and David montsegur" Lara said aloud enthusiastically

"what?" was all kurtis cold say

"Its Arthur's knights, and montsegur must've found them but why didn't he return it?" Alistair added

"I don't know but we'll find out" Lara knelt down and took a switchblade from her boots, then cutting in the exact lines of the engravings. When she scratched over Arthur's name she cut something hard and solid. She saw n thin glint of gold behind the bark. She smiled in satisfaction and cut at all directions until a button was visible. Kurtis stepped closer, she looked at him briefly, then pressed the button which caused the ground beneath their feet to shake violently, then sending them down what seemed to be an endless slope. Both of them were breathing heavily as their footing got lost and both ended face first to the ground. Still there were no sign as to this being a tomb, just a big, dusty cave with the smell of death filling the air around them, making it unwanted to breath. Lara reached to the ground with her palms flatly open; she pushed herself up in a sitting position with her legs folded under her. Would they find the grail today? Was Karel on their heels or not? Were the others safe? Were they safe? Hopefully most of their questions would be answered, neither wanted to but both of them knew that they had too many questions to be answered all at once, in some way it scared the living daylight out of them. A question that would probably never be answered was the question that dwelled in their heads since all this started seven years ago, why was it them that always had to save the world, to stop evil beyond imagination, to be strong and keep their heads up and to never back down, someone upstairs had a nice time letting all this happen. Kurtis was already on his feet and outstretched his hand for Lara, she accepted and he pulled her to her feet.

"Now what? Down the rabbit's hole to wonderland" kurtis asked

"That's hardly a fitting concept for one she fell down a rabbits hole where as we already fell through and are now standing in a cave, so to work with your theme then we must already be in wonderland"

"Yeah you're just the smartass aren't you?"

"True, come on" she replied gesturing to the darkness in front of them

"I'm rather going to keep quiet" Alistair said

"You do that" kurtis said looking at Lara then starting to walk forward.

Kurtis had been thinking about Lara nonstop, hoping that she was doing the same. He had never fell in love, well once when he was a young teenager, it was with another girl from the order. He couldn't even recall her name but she and her whole family was slaughtered by the cabal as was his but it was for the better. Now he had Lara, he didn't want anything to happen to her but he wasn't going to admit that to her either, as all men he had his pride and would not say a thing until she broke the ice and admitted to having feelings for him, first. For the first time since he was nineteen, since he ran and joined the legion, he felt he was where he needed to be. He felt at peace, he felt that he had a home. A family so to speak, not literally but he and zip were getting along very well as well as Alistair. It was still a lot of fun to get Alistair to snap, but it didn't ever go too far. Winston on the other hand, they weren't very close but close enough, Winston knew it was about time that Lara took someone with her to help. Winston felt more at peace with someone looking over Lara, making sure she didn't kill herself but then again he also knew that Lara could take care of herself. Then the most important person of all was Lara, he loved being around her no matter how cheesy it sounds. Somehow they always ended up together, seven years ago it was the death of his father and her mentor that by vengeance for Eckhardt brought them together. First in the Louvre where they sought the same obscura painting, and then again in the strahov where they first decided to work together. And now, when after seven years fait has brought them together again to kill Karel. Hopefully this time it would be successful. They were walking for n long time in the cave when an archway awaited them with multiple spikes covering the entrance in such a way that not even a fly could go through. But then again there's always a way. At each side of the archway were both a shield and a sword which had the same markings as Excalibur but the sword looked nothing like Excalibur. A ceremonial copy of course. Lara and kurtis had the same idea and inserted the shield on one arm while holding the sword in the other. Lara took a deep breath and walked toward the spikes, as soon as the sword touched it the blades retracted and gave passage, barely long enough for Lara to get through before they shot out again. Lara had put both the items down when kurtis stepped through, doing the same and joining her where she was examining the wall. In the coldness of the cave Lara could feel the heat radiating from kurtis as he stood next to her. She chose not to think about it. The inscription read:

_To the worthy may the worthy the answers see_

_To leave their baggage for the open hand_

_To receive the chalice wonder that lies beyond _

_To the worthy the answers see_

Lara read it over and over, just to be sure that she didn't miss anything important. "Baggage?" kurtis asked more to the inscription than to Lara.

"Probably the sword and shield, they knew it would make it harder but I can't help to think that there might be more to it than we think"

"Yeah well I ain't dropping my guns and neither are you and I'm sure you'll figure it out if there's something to it"

"I know" Lara doubted for a second then continued.

Systematically the scenery changed, more and more torches filled the brown rock walls of the cave. The temperature started to drop. The brown, uneven walls became smooth, looking all the more like a wall you'd find in a place like this. Lara and kurtis both stopped as soon as they saw the clearly littered floor before them. Knowing by the skeletal bones that they should be careful or death might e popping up very soon. A skeletal bone lay out of place before Lara's feet, with the slightest movement of her foot she kicked it forward and out of nowhere thousands of spikes sprang to life before them. Apparently it wasn't all a sudden red flame sprang up and danced its way between the spikes. Lara looked all over the room, searching for a way to cross. On the other side of what she guessed to be about two meters of spikes and flames was a lever.

"You think you can. . . ?" Lara asked turning to kurtis, he already had his hands stretched forward to pull the lever with his telekinesis.

"No good, it's stuck" he replied and pulled the chirugai from his belt, "but I have another idea" he smiled then threw his chirugai a good distance above the flames, cutting at the wall, making a thin outline of a crevice.

"Wow that's brilliant" Lara crossed her arms in disbelief.

"I thought of you"

"What?" Lara was truly confused

"You like climbing don't you?" he smiled at the thought

Lara was finally catching on "mind giving me a boost?" he nodded and held his hand out like a bucket.

Lara stepped onto his hands and he pushed her upward, she reached out and grabbed hold of the newly made crevice. Nearly in the fire she pulled her feet up and slowly pulled herself to the other side. Halfway through she heard kurtis call her name, a wall had fallen behind him, trapping him between three walls and the flames. Lara knew that wasn't a good thing, and right she was. The walls started to close in on kurtis. She climbed as fast as she could, dropping down close to the lever she quickly reached out and pulled. At first it wouldn't budge but she started pulling with all her strength and slowly it began to pull down. Lara moaned as her arms willed her to stop but she refused. After what felt like an eternity of pulling she finally did it and the walls retracted, leaving kurtis unharmed. He cautiously walked over the now spike- and flame free floor. 'that was too close' he told himself while joining Lara in the archway that led into what seemed to be another endless hall, as little experience as he had, he still knew that it was never a good thing. Lara took the lead and walked cautiously down the narrow hall. Her ears were listening intently for any noise that may reveal some sort of surprise. Not too far into the hall Lara heard a clanking noise, she quickly ducked through the sword that cut below and above her head. Kurtis followed after her and tried taking the lead.

"You really think you can handle it kurtis?"

"We'll just have to find out wont we" he smiled as he walked forward

He took one step at a time, listening and looking constantly for something that seemed out of place but suddenly Lara grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him back. When he turned to look at her she showed him to the canyon like hole he was about to fall in.

"Thanks" he breathed heavily through his words

"Guess you're not ready yet"

"Guess not" he looked intently on the deep black hole where he could've been in if not for Lara "what now?"

Lara sprinted past him jumping into the hole, whilst in mid air she threw her grappling hook to a golden ring at the top, presumably there to hold up a bridge that was now long gone. The hole looked to never end. Seeing no bottom Lara returned to the task at hand. She swung until kurtis's hand was reachable. He grabbed on, letting her carry him to the other side. She did as planned and he landed on his feet just beyond the hole that earlier threatened his life. Lara swung herself this time, barely making it but still remaining upside. Lara and kurtis both heard a loud banging from afar but as they neared the sound, four blocks of cement were constantly dropping down to the floor below crushing even the air that might be there. Kurtis wasn't prepared to let Lara get to the other side first and timed his run. He sprinted forward, stopping in between the first two blocks, them on to stopping between the second and third block. Then onto the third and forth, it wasn't long before Lara joined him on the other side. Still this was a bit too easy, both Lara and kurtis felt the same. Lara walked toward the light that shone through the open door in front of them. Both caught site of a man on horseback in the middle. He seemed to sense their presence and lifted his head. He looked almost identical to the undead knights from the hall of seasons but he didn't move an inch. Lara and kurtis looked questioningly at each other than pulled out their guns, slowly walking toward him. The knight stepped off from his horse slowly approaching Lara.


End file.
